


Piercing Love

by spicylime63



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Basically it's all about love and acceptance and being yourself, Karasuno is confused, M/M, Mosh Pits, Pierced Hinata, Pierced Terushima, volleyball dorks falling in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-09-10 19:46:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8935378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicylime63/pseuds/spicylime63
Summary: Hinata could feel the thrum beneath his skin that he always identified with moshes—an electric kind of buzz that seeped deep in and made him feel weightless and bright.  Like spiking without ever falling.  As the lighting changed, something caught his attention.  The lights were hitting someone's piercings in just the right way to make the view hypnotic and enticing.  Their eyes met.  A different thrum pulsed through his chest now—slightly different, promising and new, yet to be identified.OrHinata is a sucker for piercings.  Terushima Yuuji is meeting all of Hinata's standards.  And Karasuno has no idea what's going on with their newest decoy.





	1. Chapter 1

He could barely breathe, choking on the thick, humid air—air that had been breathed by the hundreds of bodies packed tightly around him.  He was choking, bodily thrown around the crowds, collecting scrapes and bruises as he went.  He could feel his sweat mingling with the sweat of the crowd on his body.

Nothing was more perfect.

The unrelenting press of bodies and pounding music that could be felt down to his bones.  The promise of release and freedom, of letting go.  He would be achy and practically deaf in the morning, but it would be worth it.

As the band continued to play, Hinata jumped and screamed and pressed into the crowd that reflected back his own desires.  The mosh pit was always his favorite.  It felt just like flying.  Like spiking a volleyball, but more freeing.

Letting go of himself and just being and feeling was the most freeing experience Hinata could think of.  It was a release.

As much as he loved volleyball, Hinata could admit that it had its stressful moments.  He had to constantly improve, improve, improve.  As much as he liked the challenge and thrived on overcoming obstacles, it had its draining moments.

Moshing, however, was like playing volleyball without the stress.  It was like spiking without ever falling back to the earth.

No one at his school understood.  And most likely no one at Karasuno would either.  Not that he knew anyone there yet—high school was yet to start the new term.  But he had a feeling.  Dedicating so much time and effort to volleyball guaranteed that most of his friends would be in the volleyball club, and he didn’t know too many volleyball players that would risk injury just for a “feeling.”

But this was why he was in the midst of the pit.  He needed to let go of his stress—he had made it into Karasuno and it was only a short while before he’d be standing on the same court as the Little Giant, so no more worrying.  He could destress.  And what a better way than by losing yourself?

As the song changed, he let all thoughts fade away with the thumping of drums and the echoing heartbeats of those pressed against him.

 

* * *

 

The last band to take the stage, Crystal Lake, started a loud cacophony of shouting, creating a white noise.  The band was just starting to speak to the crowd as something next to Hinata caught his attention—or rather someone.

Turning to his left, Hinata got the full effect of what had attracted his attention—multicolored lights reflecting off of the metal embedded in a sharp-edged face.  The stage lighting was hitting Mystery Man’s piercings in just the right way to make the view hypnotic and enticing.  Hinata couldn’t help but stare.  Just as he found his will to turn away with the band starting their first song, Mystery Man turned to face Hinata.

The poor spiker did not expect the object of his scrutiny to notice him, let alone turn to face him.  With Mystery Man’s full face in view, he couldn’t help but notice that the face attached to the piercings he had just been admiring was also just as nice to look at—sharp chin, angular eyes, mischievous grin, and a killer undercut.  The metal decorating him was just a plus and only served to add to the guy’s good looks.

Mystery Man had just been promoted to Hot Guy when the mosh pit started with a vengeance and he was promptly pressed right into Hot Guy’s side.  Instead of feeling embarrassed, Hinata did what he did when he came to these shows—he let go, shouting and moving along with the crowd.  Hot Guy met his gaze and shared a huge grin with him as they went with the press of the crowd, slamming into each other and strangers alike.

The band did little talking, so the most interaction between Hot Guy and Hinata had been slamming into each other and sharing wicked grins.  The only words exchanged were song lyrics screamed into the air.  Despite this, there was no denying the connection.

Hinata could feel the thrum beneath his skin that he always identified with moshes—an electric kind of buzz that seeped deep in and made him feel weightless and bright (not to be confused with the heady thrum of a spike—grounding and maddening and addicting in a way that both centered him and drove him to reach further, fly higher, than ever before).  But there was a different thrum that he could feel pulsing through his chest now—slightly different, promising and new, yet to be identified.

The last few chords from the set drifted out as the band gave their last farewells and thank-yous to the crowd.  Hot Guy was still pressed against him tightly, somehow, surprisingly, not getting jostled away from him during the madness.

Turning to meet Hot Guy’s gaze and still feeling the buzz that came from the experience, Hinata couldn’t help that the first words out of his mouth were, “You have gorgeous piercings.”  The crowd was thinning as people started to leave, but the two remained close to each other despite the now open space.  The concert hall was quieter without the relentless press of music and overlapping voices, giving his voice a greater presence.  “I mean, they’re all like SHAH and POW with the lights!”

Hot Guy’s grin widened as he looked over Hinata.  “Yours are pretty cool too.  Very WHAM and CHA!”  Hinata could have sworn his heart stopped at Hot Guy’s words.  He understood.

He couldn’t hold back his excitement anymore.  “That’s what I was going for!  I mean I always wanted to for a long time, and then when I could I couldn’t decide which ones to get, so I got a lot and now it’s all like—“  “Wham?” Hot Guy finished.  Though it was a question, he said it as a statement.

“Yeah!”  Hinata couldn’t help but vibrate in excitement.  He loved his piercings.  Around the time he started going to concerts and throwing down in mosh pits, he had found he really admired how the crowds around him were so diverse, so unique compared to the people he would pass on the street.  They could express themselves however they wished without fear of judgement.  It really appealed to a young Hinata who had always been judged for his size.  It was that admiration that led to him getting his first piercings—normal lobe studs.

Continuing to go to concerts had led him to notice how the lights refracted off of others’ piercings and how each person’s choice of piercing was unique to them.  His love for them only grew with this acknowledgement.  Not to mention that every new piercing he saw gave him more inspiration for his own piercings.

Soon enough he had three graduated lobe piercings on each ear, a helix on his left, an industrial in his right, a nostril piercing, and a vertical eyebrow piercing.  He was proud of them all and debating what he should get next.  It was really nice for someone to compliment them since he couldn’t show them off at school— _stupid school rules._

It was especially nice coming from someone who also had a lot of metal.  Hot guy had two lobe piercings on each ear, an ear weave on the right, a snug on the left, a horizontal eyebrow piercing on the left eyebrow, and snakebites.

Extending his hand, he introduced himself.  “Hinata Shouyou.”

A warm feeling crept from his hand and up into his chest as Hot Guy grasped it and shook.  “Terushima Yuuji.”  Dark chocolate brown eyes bore into his own.  “Nice to meetcha, Hinata.”

An overwhelming feeling of wanting to know more about Terushima and befriending him and keeping him swept over Hinata.  There weren’t many people that could relate to him, and finding someone that could, who seemed to also want to know Hinata was just too much.  He had to keep him—much like how he decided he had to keep Izumi and Kouji.

“Can I have your number?”  The words left his mouth before he could even process them, but he wouldn’t take them back.  “I mean, I really liked being here with you and my two friends don’t like coming to these things and you were really fun and I’d like to talk to you more because you seem cool and I like your piercings and we could talk about bands and—and--!”  A barking laugh broke through his babbling, making him look at the now bent over Terushima who couldn’t seem to catch his breath.

A few more chuckles were forced down before Terushima could finally form a proper sentence without breaking out in more laughter.  “You’re a pretty funny guy, Hinata.  Sure.  Let’s meet up again sometime.”  Terushima pulled out his phone and handed it over to Hinata to plug in his number.  Once he had his phone back, lithe fingers quickly tapped on the screen, stilled, and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

A buzz in Hinata’s back pocket had him grabbing for his phone and sending a reply back to Terushima.

“Text me.  I gotta go catch a train.”  With a wink and a wave, Terushima was off.

Hinata didn’t know how long he stood there watching the doorway Terushima disappeared through.  Eventually, the silence of a mostly empty theater caught up to him, knocking him out of his daze.

Smiling at the prospect of a new friend, one that actually understood this facet of him, he pocketed his phone and walked out to catch his own ride.

 

* * *

 

To Terushima  
Hey!  It’s me!  Hinata!  How r u?

From Terushima  
Haha I’m good.  How’re you?

To Terushima  
Im really good!  I had so much fun last night!  Gah! I luvd those bands!!

From Terushima  
They were pretty great.  That first one though!  I don’t know their name.  the new one.  They rocked!  I wish I got their cd last night.

To Terushima  
Ahhhhhhh I mustve missed them.  My ride was running late so I didn’t see the 1st band and I missed half the 2nd one  T___T

From Terushima  
Man that’s too bad.  So you go to those kinds of concerts often?

To Terushima  
Super sux.  And yES!!!  I loVE THEM!  But my friends don’t.  So its usually just me.

To Terushia  
Not that its bad or nething!  I don’t mind goin alone!  But it was super nice 2 meet u!!!

From Terushima  
Haha then we’ll have to go together some time.

To Terushima  
GWAH!! ID LIKE THAT!!

From Terushima  
Well hey I have to get going.  I’ll ttyl

To Terushima  
Ttyl!!!!!

 

Hinata smiled at the phone cradled in his hands as he lounged on the couch.  It was a day without volleyball practice, so Hinata had nothing better to do than sit around and play with his sister.

“Shouyou!”  The light reprimand in his mother’s voice made Hinata’s spine straighten in preparation.  “Did you clean your room yet?”

_Oh shit._

“Uhh.”

“That better be an ‘I’m finishing it now.’”

“On it!”

 

* * *

 

He kept texting Terushima throughout the week.  Little things like asking about his day and what bands he liked.  It got to the point that he was rarely seen without his phone, as they were almost constantly texting each other.  But Hinata wanted to know more about the guy that was fast becoming someone important to him.

 

To Terushima  
What’s your favorite color?

From Terushima  
Blue.  Why the sudden interest?

To Terushima  
Because I wanna kno u better?  I kno ur favorite band and the 1st concert u went 2 but I couldn’t tell u ur fav color or number or age or whether u have any siblings or pets.

To Terushima  
U don’t have 2 answer tho if u don’t want 2!!

From Terushima  
No no it’s fine.  I’d like to know you more too!

From Terushima  
Favorite color is blue.  I like the number 33.  I’m 17.  No siblings.  1 dog.

To Terushima  
Aaaaaahhhh!  So cool!  Ur only a year older than me!  And how is it 2 have a dog?!  I always wanted a dog but my mom doesn’t like the mess they leave.  Is it lonely not having a sibling?  I don’t know what I’d do without Natsu.  My sister!  She can be annoying sometimes but I really luv her.

To Terushima  
Ahhhh!  Sorry 4 teh word vomit.  I get really excited sometimes and everything comes out.

From Terushima  
S all good.  it’s awesome that you get that excited.  I get pumped from your excitement and then we’re both excited and it’s nice to have someone at the same level you know?

From Terushima  
So you have a sister and no dog.  Sounds nice to have a sibling.  My dog keeps me company but its definitely not the same.  She’s super sweet and excitable.  Her name’s Kasumi.  She likes to wrestle with me and is a great listener.  Don’t know what I’d do without her.

From Terushima  
So right back atcha.  What’s your favorite color and number?  Any other siblings?  You have a pet that’s not a dog?

To Terushima  
Fav color is neon green.  # is 9.  Just Natsu and me.  And no pets at all since they’re “2 much mess” and no1 to rly take care of them.

From Terushima  
Cool.  Too bad about the pets.  Nice you have a sister though.  She older or younger?

To Terushima  
She’s younger!  And the cutest! …..except when she’s not  >_>

From Terushima  
Haha sounds like my friend Bobata.  He has a younger brother and sister.  He complains about htem all the time.  But he’d totally fight to the death for them.

To Terushima  
Nobody messes with her but me.

To Terushima  
U kno.  I think she’d like u.

From Terushima  
You think so?

To Terushima  
Yea.  U seem pretty cool  :)

From Terushima  
Hey you said about hanging out sometime.  Wanna do that?  Hang out sometime?

To Terushima  
YES!!  That’d be so cool!

From Terushima  
Lol let me know when you’re free then.

To Terushima  
Are u free tomorrow????

From Terushima  
Nah can’t tomorrow.  Family stuff.  Sorry.

To Terushima  
Np!  How bout the next day?  Sunday???

To Terushima  
After that I’m not free til Friday T__T

From Terushima  
I can do sunday.

To Terusima  
REALLY??!!!!!

From Terushima  
lol yeah.

To Terushima  
Gwah!!!  I’m so eXCITED!!!!

 

“MOOOOOOOOM!”  Something metal could be heard clattering to the floor with a loud bang.  More pounding was heard, though this time it was the sound of feet hitting the floor with a purpose.  A scowl on his mother’s face greeted him from above his upside down position on the couch.

“Shouyou!  Why are you yelling?”

“Mom!  You know that guy that I told you about that I met at the concert last Friday?”  A nod from his mother had him continuing the story.  “Well we’ve been talking and he’s super cool and I really want to meet him again and he’s free on Sunday.  And I was wondering if we have anything on Sunday and would you give me a ride if you’re not busy.  Because you’re the best and I love you and I really want to see him and-!”  And he suddenly ran out of breath.

“Shouyou.”  Hinata Chiharu’s voice gently stopped her rambunctious child before he could spew out anything further.  “You’re asking if you can meet with your new friend on Sunday?”  He couldn’t nod fast enough.  “And you’re asking for a ride to meet him?”  Another fast nod.  She paused for a moment, a finger tapping at the corner of her mouth as it always did when she was thinking.  “I don’t believe there’s any reason why you can’t.  Where are you and this boy-“  “Terushima!”  “-Terushima.  Where are you and Terushima-san meeting?”

Hinata took a breath to answer before realizing they hadn’t decided on a place and neither knew where the other lived.  “Uhh.  I’ll get back to you.”  He paused once more before sitting up, as much as he could, to shout at his retreating mother’s back, “I love you!  Thank you!  You’re the best!”  A light chuckle was her response.

 

* * *

 

The day was here—Sunday.  It was only two days since Hinata had texted Terushima about meeting on Sunday and a full week and two days since their fateful meeting.  Needless to say, Hinata was practically vibrating in place.

He had already walked a groove into the ground next to the bench where he had first started his long wait.  Not that Terushima was late or anything.  Hinata had been so excited that he had his mother drop him off at the park almost an hour early.

It was eight minutes until they were supposed to meet, but to Hinata it felt more like an eternity.

“Hey there, Hinata!”  The voice ghosted past his left ear from behind, hot and slightly damp against his skin, and, unfortunately, very loud.  Needless to say, he jumped in surprise.

“Ah!  Terushima!”  The boy in question was doubled over laughing with no hint of apology to be seen.  “So mean.”  He stuck his tongue out at him.

“Aww, but it was just too good to pass up.”  The wide grin with glinting metal that greeted him was more than enough to make up for it though.  “So, I know we said we’d walk around, but did you have any idea of where to go?”

“Hmm.  Not really.  I don’t usually come over this way.  You?”

Terushima thought for a moment before shrugging, “Nope.  Ah well.  Let’s just walk and we’ll figure it out along the way.”

“Okay!”  It was a beautiful sunny day with only a few clouds to break up the blue sky.  It was a perfect day.

“So, Terushima!  Are you excited for the new school year?  I mean, I’m pretty excited!  I’ll be meeting all new people and the classes will be different and it all sounds like a great adventure!”  _Well…except for-_ “Well, except for the classes themselves.  I don’t care for studying.”

“Nah, I’m with you there.  I hate studying.  But I really like getting to see my friends and messing around at practice.”  Hinata couldn’t help noticing that the sun glinting off of Terushima made him seem even brighter than he had at the concert.

When Terushima’s words caught up to Hinata, he asked, “Practice?”

Terushima side-eyed him as they continued to walk the park’s path.  “Ah I must not have told you.  I’m in the volleyball club at my high school.”  It wasn’t just the sun now making Terushima shine.

“Y-You play volleyball?”

“Yeah!  It’s a lot of fun and I’m pretty good.  We actu-“

“I’m in volleyball too!”  Hinata’s excitement couldn’t be contained long enough for Terushima to finish talking.  “I love it!  I mean I’m not on the team yet for the school I’m starting, but I’m definitely going to be.  I’m going to be the spiker and hit the ball like FWAH and GYON!”

Terushima was looking at him now with wide eyes.  “You play volleyball too?”  At Hinata’s excited nod, Terushima broke out in his own excited jumping and whooping.  “I knew you were cool, but I didn’t think you were this cool!  Oh we are going to be great friends, Hinata!”

Hinata couldn’t help but agree as the two completely ignored the strangers staring at them as they jumped around and shouted.  No one he knew was quite like Terushima.  Hinata was more determined than ever to keep him close.

 

* * *

 

Another week went by and Hinata was texting Terushima with abandon.  Dark circles had spread under his eyes from late nights spent texting and calling Terushima about one thing or another.  As exhausted as he was, though, he couldn’t help but have a bounce in his step.  They’ve been talking for almost three weeks straight, almost non-stop.  The excitement of talking to Terushima had only gotten stronger in the days following their walk in the park.

From there Hinata learnt that Terushima was a second year at Johzenji and that he was their team’s spiker.  He learnt that his team actually made it into the top four during last year’s Interhigh Preliminaries.  But more than anything, Terushima was excited to get back to practice.  Hinata had in turn shared his own dreams of becoming Karasuno’s ace spiker like the Little Giant and how he planned to beat his rival from Kitagawa Daiichi.

The best part was that Terushima hadn’t belittled Hinata’s dreams based on his size.  Instead, Terushima declared that they should practice with each other some time to help each other improve.

Consequently, the texting became more frequent as they set up a day before the start of term to practice.

It was the Friday before the start of term when the boys were finally able to meet up again.  Hinata, having arrived at the park (the same one from last time) early again, was tossing a volleyball as he waited for Terushima to arrive.

His mind, however, was far away from the present as he was deep in thought about the Johzenji wing spiker.  Hinata knew that he really liked Terushima.  When they had met up last time, and he found out that they both played volleyball, he didn’t think things could get any better.  A friend who had piercings, liked mosh pits, _and_ played volleyball was more than Hinata could ask for.  But there was more to him than just that.  He was just as excitable as Hinata.  He didn’t get upset when Hinata got so excited he interrupted him—if anything, he looked amused.  And he hadn’t immediately judged Hinata based on his appearance.

When they met in person, Hinata had come to realize through their long talks just how much he enjoyed Terushima’s company.  He liked it far more than he ever did with Izumi and Kouji.  Not that he didn’t enjoy being with his close friends—it was just that talking with Terushima and being around him felt different.

After many long days of wondering and thinking about his strange thoughts, he had come to the conclusion that he liked Terushima in a more romantic sense.  In other words, he had a crush.  It didn’t really come as a surprise; if anything, it was more of an ‘aha’ moment for Hinata.

His current contemplation, however, came from not knowing what to do about said crush.

“Hey, Hina-chan!”  Terushima’s voice rang out from behind some trees, startling Hinata from his thoughts.  Soon enough Terushima could be seen ducking under the branches, making his way to the ginger.

“Hey, Teru!”  He was going to say more, but Terushima latched onto him for a hug.  With most of the weight on Hinata, they almost toppled.  Despite the weight of keeping the both of them from falling over, Hinata couldn’t help but think how nice Terushima’s hugs were.  They were warm and strong, and they felt like you were being wrapped in a blanket.

Too soon, Terushima pulled away with a chuckle, ruffling Hinata’s hair along the way.

“Good to see you, Hina-chan.  It’s nice to see you in person again.”

Hinata couldn’t help but agree.  “It’s awesome seeing you again!  I liked last time and couldn’t wait until we could meet up again.  And now we’re practicing together, so I’m super excited!  No one from middle school really gets it, but I’m super happy to practice with someone who really plays!”  Terushima’s ears got a bit red as Hinata’s excited babbling continued.  “Not that I’m only here for practice.  I mean, I like hanging out with you in general.  You’re just super cool and I really like you.  That you play volleyball—and as a spiker too!—is just a huge bonus.”  Terushima’s ears were completely red by now, accompanying the face-splitting grin.

“I get what you mean.  I really like being around you too.”  Terushima grabbed the volleyball from where it had landed during the hug and lazily spun it between his hands.  “You ready to practice?”

Hinata’s whole demeanor changed to one of determination.  “Osu!”  He was more than ready.

As the day dragged on, it was clear Hinata was not as ready as he thought.

“The way you spoke, I thought you were a bit better than this, Hina-chan.”  Terushima looked genuinely confused a bit put out by this.

“I’ve been practicing, but it’s not like I’ve had a real team to practice with.  We’ve talked about this.”  He couldn’t help the distressed tone in his voice.  He really wasn’t doing all that well.  They had practiced serves for a while before moving onto receives.  Terushima had been good at both, but Hinata wasn’t very good at either.  Rather than helping each other, Terushima had spent much of the time helping Hinata.  When Hinata brought it up, Terushima just shrugged it off and responded by saying that helping him was helping himself too—it was good practice for teaching the incoming first years.

“I know.  But it’s still surprising.  I would’ve thought that you would have had at least someone to help you before this.”

“Thank you for helping me, Teru.”

“Hmm.  Wanna practice spiking now?”

“Toss to me!!”  Hinata’s excitement had him bouncing on his toes in anticipation.

“Eh.  You do remember I’m not a setter, right?”  Hinata nodded.  “So, my tosses aren’t going to be the best.”  Hinata nodded.  “Alright.  As long as you toss to me too!”  The eagerness in Terushima’s voice was palpable as he mirrored Hinata’s excited bouncing.

At the first toss, Hinata’s aim was a little off, his fingertips only just skimming the ball.

He cursed, grabbed the ball, and was about to toss to Terushima was when he caught sight of his expression.  His mouth was open, eyes wide, and ears red.  Hinata couldn’t quite place what about it made him stop, but he could feel the telltale burn of an oncoming blush.

“What?”

“Your jump is amazing!”  Terushima’s voice was a quiet kind of awed, keeping Hinata from replying.  “I mean, if there were a net right here, you would’ve almost cleared it.”

Rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment with his free hand, Hinata replied, “It’s not that high yet.  But it will be!  I just need more practice.”

He could just make out Terushima mumble something about a beautiful jump, but he brushed it off as something misheard.

Instead he said, “You ready to spike?”

“Always ready!”  As soon as the ball left his hands, Hinata knew it was a terrible toss.  But Terushima went after it anyway.

Hinata couldn’t help but stare at Terushima.  He was definitely in his element, jumping for the ball.  His entire demeanor reeked of playfulness and determination.  Hinata admired the bend and stretch of his long legs and the sweeping arc of his arm.  Hinata couldn’t help but smile along with Terushima as the ball slammed into the ground, kicking up dust as it bounced.

Terushima crowed in victory and thrust out his hand for a high five.  “I was great, wasn’t I?”

“Y-yeah.  You really were!”  Hinata’s cheeks turned pink at his own stuttered response.

Terushima beamed at the praise and demanded another, to which Hinata started arguing that it was his turn.  They went back and forth like this, demanding toss after toss and critiquing each other until the sun started to go down.

“We better stop now.”  Terushima’s voice sounded as reluctant as Hinata felt.  “It’s getting dark.  We should both probably head back.”

“I guess.”  Despite agreeing, Hinata made no move to leave.  He hadn’t had this much fun in a while.  And it was rare that he had someone he could practice with who wouldn’t get annoyed by his never ending demands for another toss.

In his defense, Terushima seemed to be dragging his own feet as well.  He was mindlessly spinning the volleyball between his hands and glancing at Hinata.  He seemed to have something on his mind.

The silence dragged on.

“Hina—“

“Teru—“

They stopped and smiled.

“Hinata, I have something I’ve been thinking about.”  Hinata hadn’t heard Terushima this unsure before, neither over text nor talking on the phone.  “I really like talking to you.  And I really like hanging out with you.”  Terushima stopped spinning the volleyball between his hands and walked up to Hinata.  He was close enough now that Hinata could see that Terushima’s eyes were a rich almond color, flecked with little spots of amber around the edges.

Terushima examined Hinata’s face and then continued.  “You keep up with me like no one else really does.  And you don’t care what anyone thinks—you’re always you.  Even from that first moment in the mosh pit.”  His lips quirked at the thought.  “And recently I’ve been thinking that I don’t know anyone else like you _because_ there’s no one else like you.”

Hinata was already blushing at this point, but the earnestness that was in Terushima’s face coupled with his words caused a full blush to rush from his head to his chest.  He had an idea of where Terushima was going, but he couldn’t really process the thought.

“Anyway, I’ve come to realize just how amazing you are.  And that I might like you more than as just a friend.  So, Hinata Shouyou, will you go out with me?”

Hinata couldn’t say that he hadn’t entertained the thought of dating Terushima.  But, he’d never gone further than just entertaining the idea.  He didn’t think such a cool guy would want to be with him.  Not to mention that they’d only met in person three times!

But, he really did like Terushima.  And Terushima seemed to really like him as well.  Hinata could feel something bubbling in his chest, ready to burst out.

He wanted to respond.  He _really_ wanted to respond.  But the words were swallowed up by the bubbling feeling.

Instead of speaking, he found his body responding on its own.  He jumped at Terushima, the volleyball falling to the ground so the older boy could grab him.  His arms were thrown around Terushima and his head was nestled into his neck, nodding furiously.

It only took Terushima a second before he was chuckling and clutching the ginger as tight as possible.  Hinata could feel Terushima press his lips to the top of his head and then his cheek, and the top of his head again before resting it fully against Hinata’s.

“I take it that’s a yes?”  The words were murmured, but Hinata heard them anyway and nodded even more furiously in agreement, murmuring his own yes into Terushima’s neck.

Hinata turned his head to kiss Terushima under his jaw, leaving small pecks as he worked his way to Terushima’s lips.

He paused briefly, making eye contact with the older boy before pressing his lips gently against Terushima’s.

It was only a brief press of lips, hesitant and new, but it was perfect.

Terushima pulled away, leaving some space between them though his arms were still wrapped loosely around Hinata.  A soft smile was in place and the tips of his ears were red—beautifully accented by glinting metal.

“So now what?”  His voice was just as soft as his smile.

Hinata took a moment to reply.  “I think now we start dating.”  A light smack to his arm made his shoulders shake in a silent laugh.

“I mean, where do we go from here?”  Hinata went silent as he gave it some real thought.  Terushima continued in the silence, “Personally, I wish you were going to Johzenji so that I could be with you every day.  But since you’re going to Karasuno, we’ll have to deal with distance.”

Hinata hummed in acknowledgement.  “I’m fine with how we are now.  We’re both going to be in volleyball, so it’s not like either of us will have a lot of free time.  But, that’s what I like about us.  We get each other.”  He pulled Terushima close so that they were pressed against each other.  “Why don’t we stick to what we’ve been doing?  Texting and calling.  Meeting up when we can.”  Terushima hummed in agreement.  “I want to go on actual dates with you, Teru.”

“Yuuji.”

“What?”

“Call me Yuuji, Shouyou.”

Hinata blushed in response.  “Then, I want to go on actual dates with you, Yuuji.”

“Good.  Because we’re going to squeeze in as many as possible with our schedules.”

Hinata beamed.  Though he was curious, and asked, “So does this mean that tonight’s our first date?”

“No.  We need a real official first date.  I may not look the part, but I do like romantic shit.”

“Good.  Me too.”

They basked in each other’s silent company until Terushima said, “I know exactly what our first date’ll be.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“You going to tell me?”

“Nope.”

“Do I get a clue?”

“Not yet.”

“Not fair.”

“Life’s not fair.”  Terushima stuck out his tongue mockingly.  “But don’t worry.  I’ll let you know the day of.  Ok?”

Hinata nodded.  “Ok.  But let’s try for something soon.”  Now that they were officially dating, he wanted to be with Terushima as much as possible.  Just the thought of going on a real date made him impatient for it to happen.

Terushima seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as he replied, “Yeah.  I want to have our first date soon.  Super soon.  Before practice and classes start sucking up my free time.”

Hinata groaned, “Nooooo.  It’s too soon to be thinking about classes.”

Terushima chuckled and snuggled closer into Hinata.  “Hmm.  I can’t do this coming week since I’ll be swamped with practice.  The week after might be best.  We usually have Sundays off.”  Terushima seemed to be talking to himself rather than Hinata.  Hinata thought it was an adorable quirk.

There was a bit more murmuring before Terushima directed his voice at Hinata, “Let me know what your volleyball schedule will be.  I should have Sunday free, but I can probably cut out on Friday or Saturday if not.”  The ‘ _I probably shouldn’t’_ was implied.

Hinata nodded in agreement.  “Alright.  I’ll let you know when I know.  I just can’t wait to do…what again?  Go to the zoo?”  The innocent eyes were full blast on Terushima.

They were ineffective.  “Nice try, Shou.  But I’m not telling you.  It’ll be a surprise.”

He sighed.  “I guess.  But I’m just so curious!  Not knowing is gonna kill me!”

Terushima laughed.  “You’re so damn cute.”

“I’m not cute.  I’m handsome.”

“That too.”

Hinata didn’t know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet.

“Hey, Shou?”

“Yeah, Yuuji?”

“I’m really happy you’re my boyfriend.”

“Me too.  I’m really happy you’re my boyfriend too.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh man that’s too good!”  Terushima’s guffawing could be heard through the phone even at the arm’s length Hinata was holding it at.

Hinata, having come to his wits end, couldn’t hold back his frustration as he shouted back, “Are you done yet?!”

“S-Sorry, Shou!”  He was definitely not sorry enough, Hinata thought, as he could still hear badly muffled laughter on the other end.  “But honestly, after all the ranting about beating this Kameyaga guy—“

“Kageyama.”

“—you now have to work with him.  That’s too ridiculous!”

Hinata couldn’t help but shout, “I know!  It’s ridiculous!  I shouldn’t have to work with him.  Stupid Kageyama messing up my plans.  I was supposed to beat him!  Not work with him!”

“Well, all you can do now is learn to work with him.”

“I know that!  I’m not dumb.  Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”  He was pouting even though Terushima couldn’t see it.

“You’re pouting, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not!”

Terushima was silent for a moment, before stating in a deadpan voice, “You totally are.”

“Am not!”

Smothered laughter could be heard once again on Terushima’s end.  “You’re adorable.”

“Oh yeah!  Well….  Well so are you!”

Silence overtook both ends of the phone at Hinata’s petulant declaration before both boys broke out in uncontrollable laughter.

“That was so bad, Shou,” Terushima managed to wheeze out between chuckles.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true though,” Hinata said through the giant grin that had spread across his face.  He was basking in this moment.  His boyfriend had literally managed to turn his frown upside down.  How did he get so lucky?

“Hey.”  Terushima’s voice had turned low and tender.  “Don’t sweat it.  I know you’ll work through everything and come out stronger for it because you’re just that kind of person.”

Hinata was warmed by his boyfriend’s words.  Seriously, how did he get so lucky?

“Th-Thank you, Yuuji.”

“What’s a boyfriend for if not support?”

“Still, thanks.”  Hinata had his face almost completely pressed into his pillow from embarrassment at this point, partially muffling his words.

“Hey, Shou.  You gotta get up early, right?”  Hinata nodded in response, having forgotten that Terushima couldn’t see him.  “You should get some sleep then.”  Terushima seemed to get the message regardless.  “I’ll talk to you more tomorrow, okay?”

Hinata reluctantly agreed and hung up after wringing the promise of another call from Terushima.  He really did have to get to sleep though.  He was supposed to meet Kageyama for practice at five in the morning.  And in a real gym no less!  Even Stupidyama couldn’t ruin that for him.

Besides, nothing could stop him from joining Karasuno’s Volleyball Club.  He was too determined to let something as insignificant as Kageyama’s bad personality get in the way of his dreams.

 

* * *

 

“Congratulations, Shou!”  Terushima’s excited voice, tinny through the phone, could be heard yet again at an arm’s length.  Not that Hinata was holding his phone that far.  Instead, he was lying on his bed with his phone resting on the side of his face as he was too exhausted to even hold it properly.  After the 3-on-3 match against the other two first years and his team’s captain, not to mention the extra practice Kageyama and he had done for that awesome spike, he had used up all of his ridiculous stamina.

Though his state of exhaustion hadn’t stopped him from immediately calling Terushima after he got home and collapsed onto his bed.  He had talked to Terushima every day until the match to complain about Kageyama and talk about his progress.  Of course, they had talked about other things too, but volleyball always came first.  Terushima would talk about his day too, describing the first years on the team, explaining some of the team’s drills, talking about his friends Bobata and Futamata, and complaining about his new classes.

Hinata, for his part, was just excited to have someone to talk to like this, no matter the topic.

A proud, “I told you you’d do great,” dragged Hinata back to the present.  “You’ll have to show me that awesome quick sometime.”

Hinata hummed in agreement.  “In a match, for sure.”  He was partially mumbling at this point.  “Can’t really show you in person without Kageyama there.  Me and him are totally gonna kick your ass with it.  Osu.”  Hinata knew he was rambling and close to falling asleep, but he still really wanted to talk more to his boyfriend.

Light laughter trickled through the line.  “I’ll look forward to it.  But you’re wrong.  My team will totally destroy yours.”  Without even seeing Terushima, Hinata knew there was a vicious smirk on his face.

Despite how tired he was, Hinata managed to reply with a challenging, “Bring it.”

They were silent now.  Hinata could hear Terushima breathing softly through the phone.  He couldn’t help but feel content in this moment.

Without realizing it, he had drifted off to sleep.

Hinata woke up slowly to the sound of his mother bustling around in the kitchen.  The noise was comforting, muffled by his door and the pillow that had somehow ended up on his face in the night.  He would’ve been perfectly content to stay like that if not for the painful press of something digging into his neck.

Groaning, he rolled over and searched blindly for the offending object.  Once in hand, he held it in front of his face, blurry eyes and sleep-logged brain distorting the object.  Despite appearances, Hinata was in no way, shape, or form a morning person.

A few moments of staring uncomprehendingly at the offensive object, Hinata was able to realize it was a phone.  His phone.  A phone that was still on.  A phone whose screen showed that he had been on a call with Terushima for over eight hours (and counting).

Hinata’s drowsiness was wiped away as he put the phone to his ear.  He could just barely make out the sound of soft snoring.  A smile slowly worked its way across his face.

Snuggling deeper into his covers, Hinata thought he could stay like this all morning.

A slammed door quickly dispelled this notion.  The tiny body that barreled into him, painfully he would add, completely crushed any lingering hope.

“Wake up!  Wake up!  Wake up!”  Natsu’s chant, coupled with her bouncing on his bed forced a groan from his lips.

“I’m awake, Natsu.”

“Momma says breakfast is ready and you need to come down.”

A mumbled okay did nothing to stop her from forcing him out of bed and into the kitchen.  It wasn’t until he sat down at the kitchen table that he realized he still had his phone in hand.  Bringing it to his ear, he could still hear Terushima’s soft snores.  Smiling to himself, he finally ended the call.  He would talk to him later.  And he would definitely make sure to tease him about the snoring.

 

* * *

 

“It was super cute!”

Terushima’s groan was enough to make Hinata laugh in triumph.  “No more, Shou.  You need to stop spreading these lies.  It’ll ruin my image.”

“What image?”

“My super sexy, cool image.”

Hinata couldn’t help but rile him up more, as he asked, “Is that what you were going for?”

“Ouch,” Terushima’s voice over the phone, however, didn’t sound very pained though—it sounded amused if anything.  “So cruel, Shou.  Why am I dating such a mean person?  What have I done to deserve this?”

Hinata laughed again and stated simply, “You brought this on yourself.”

Terushima sighed dramatically.  “I must be a masochist.  Ah well.  Anyway, I called for a different reason.  Stop distracting me.”  Hinata just knew that if he were there in person, he’d be sticking his tongue out.  Hinata then paused, thinking that Terushima would look real good with a tongue ring.

“You there, Shou?”

Hinata shook his stray thoughts away as he answered, “Yeah.  Yeah.  I’m here.  What’s up?”

“You know how I said I wanted to take you on a date?”

How could he forget?  “Yeah.”

“Well, do you know your schedule yet?”

 _Oh shit._   Hinata had completely forgotten to tell Terushima his schedule.  In a panic, he blurted out, “I’m free on Sunday!”

“Sunday it is.  I need to make some arrangements, so I’ll text you with the details later.”

Hinata was beyond excited.  Though his excitement certainly couldn’t suppress his curiosity as he asked, “You’ll finally tell me what we’re doing?”

“Hell no.  It’s a surprise.”  Terushima’s voice was filled with fondness as he said, “Nice try though.”

Hinata Chiharu’s voice floated into his room at that moment, “Shouyou!”

Without thinking, he yelled back, “Whaaaat?!”

Hinata could hear the exasperation in her voice as she shouted, “Come here!”

“Why?!”

“Just come here!”

He groaned, knowing that she wouldn’t answer until he was actually standing in front of her.  He finally shouted back, “Be there in a sec!”  His attention then returned to his phone as he apologized, “Sorry, but I have to go.”

Terushima replied, “No problem.  I’ll catch you later, Shou.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Hinata hung up, and ran out to his mother before she could yell for him again.  His mind, however, lingered over the thought of his upcoming date.

 

* * *

 

Despite the clanking and jostling of the bus, Hinata couldn’t help but feel content and warm with his head nestled comfortably in the crook of Terushima’s neck and his hand clenching Terushima’s tightly between them.  A shared pair of earbuds linked them further.

Although the beat of each song had a harder edge to it, Hinata couldn’t help but fall in love with the lyrics.  Each song was advancing a larger story, hitting highs and lows at equal measure.  Hinata couldn’t help but smile at the memory of Terushima’s small freak out over the fact that he hadn’t heard one of his favorite bands.  So naturally, he had decided that the train ride taking them to his secret date spot would be filled with a musical education.  He had gone so far as to bring a splitter for his music player so they could both listen, but Hinata had insisted on sharing the earbuds.  If he couldn’t get the pleasure of bugging Terushima about the mystery date, he would get it another way—namely through getting as much cuddling in as possible.

So far, he had been successful.  He was already three and a half hours into the commute (three hours by train and half an hour on the bus and counting), but Hinata was more than content to ride in a cramped, and strange smelling bus as long as he had his boyfriend by his side.  Terushima was a pleasant warmth beside him.  He couldn’t help nuzzling into his boyfriend’s neck just a bit at the thought.

Through the years, Hinata had heard his classmates gush over their boyfriends and girlfriends, talking about everything from the specific color of their eyes to the way they dressed to the way they smelled.  He had never particularly understood the obsession with that last one—smell.  But being this close to his boyfriend, he couldn’t help but notice the spicy scent that clung to his skin—maybe cinnamon or all spice; something equally earthy and homey and a bit sweet.  Whatever it was, it made him relax; it made him think of home and all the future days and nights he could spend wrapped around Terushima and his scent.  Never before had he appreciated how important this one sense could be until this moment when it was connected so viscerally to someone important to him.

The culmination of the music playing softly in one ear, the reassuring thumping of Terushima’s heart in the other, and the cloying scent of someone he was starting to consider a second home, led to a sense of contentment that Hinata had never quite reached before.

This peace lasted for the last twenty-some minutes before his human pillow gently nudged him, softly calling his name.

“Hey,” Terushima said with some reluctance, “our stop should be coming up soon.”

Hinata nodded, still in a slight daze.  The comfortable doze the two had enjoyed may have also been due in part to the early hour they both had to wake up in order to make their train.  As he began to stretch out the kinks in his back, Hinata noted just how bright the sun had become since they had started this journey.  He estimated it to be sometime around ten in the morning.  He’d check his phone, but he was still feeling too lazy.

Pulling his eyes away from the slowing scenery, he stared at his boyfriend as he lazily finished winding up his earbuds and started in on his own stretching.  In the middle of what appeared to be a particularly satisfying stretch, Terushima’s eyes found his, stopping him short.

A smirk spread across Terushima’s face as he changed into a more suggestive stretch.  He eyed Hinata before asking, “Like what you see?”

Hinata really, really did.

Without realizing it, he had started nodding his head.  Terushima dropped the stretch and gestured to the entirety of his body, saying, “Good.  Because you’ll be seeing a lot of it today.”  He then winked at Hinata and grabbed his hand, squeezing it a bit tighter than before.  Hinata squeezed back.

The sudden squealing of the bus’ brakes brought Hinata’s attention to their location.  They were somewhere south of Tokyo Hinata knew because that’s where they had gotten on the bus.  Tilting his head to get a better look at the station they were pulling up to, he spotted the sign that stated they were in Fujiyoshida.

He had to wonder just what Terushima was up to.  Most of the big date ideas that his friends employed were festivals, arcades, movies, or something unique that could only be found in Tokyo.  There was only one thing he could think of that would make sense for Terushima to take him all the way to Fujiyoshida—he didn’t know whether to throw up from nerves or scream in excitement.

As they exited the bus hand-in-hand, Hinata couldn’t help but burst out with his excited question, “Are we going to where I think we’re going?!”

Terushima just smiled and responded, “I don’t know.  Maybe.”  Seeing Hinata’s cheeks puff out in frustration, he laughed and added, “You’ll see when we get there.”

As they walked further, Hinata sees exactly what he expected—the tops of giant rollercoasters.  They were headed to Fuji-Q Highland.

As the realization set in, he couldn’t help but shout and slam into his boyfriend for a back breaking hug.  Terushima just took it in stride and started his own excited shouting.  The two of them drew numerous strange looks from their racket, but neither noticed a thing as they were too caught up in each other.

Their screeching and raucous laughter continued for the entirety of the walk to the main gates where they bought their entry tickets (Terushima insisted that he pay for both of them) and finally set foot into the amusement park.

“Where do we even start?”  Terushima asked, completely overwhelmed by the number of rides.  A few seconds of silence made him turn to Hinata.  “Which one you want to hit first, Shou?”

Hinata didn’t answer.  Instead, he grabbed Terushima’s hand and pulled.  As his walk turned into a run, he beamed at Terushima who was keeping pace right beside him.  They ended up passing the first few rollercoasters in hopes that there would be a shorter line at the ones further back.

The lines were only slightly shorter they found out as they took their place in line for Takabisha.  The wait was already estimated at fifteen minutes and the line was still growing.

As they waited, Hinata and Terushima shared stories about their past few days.  However, the anxiety of the first ride, Hinata’s first actual rollercoaster ride ever, was starting to set in.  He could feel himself getting clammy.  The tell-tale gurgle from his stomach signified the oncoming nausea.

He tried to concentrate on what his boyfriend was saying, but it wasn’t working.  Terushima’s mouth was moving, but Hinata couldn’t hear any words.  All he could hear was his own heartbeat getting louder and louder.

Hinata didn’t know how long he was spacing out when a strong grip on his shoulder brought him back.  His eyes followed the arm to Terushima’s worried face.  “You okay?  You’re really pale and sweating.”

Hinata composed his face into a rough smile and tried to sound as energetic as possible.  “O-Oh yeah.  Really g-great.  Just so excited.  Yup.”

“Shou, you don’t have to lie.  Please, just tell me if you’re okay.  Do you need the bathroom?”

Hinata sighed.  “It’s just my stomach.  I’ve never been on a rollercoaster before.  I’m super excited!  But also really super nervous.”

Terushima was in silent contemplation for a moment, which Hinata took advantage of.  He noticed the line had moved and nudged Terushima to move up.  They were really close now—maybe two or three more groups before they could ride it themselves.

Terushima was silent for a moment more before turning to Hinata and asking, “Do you want to get out of line?  We could do something else.  There are plenty of other things besides rollercoasters that we can ride.  I just don’t want you to feel pressured, so please don’t force yourself if you don’t want to.”

“No!”  Hinata really did want to go on the rollercoaster.  He really, really did.  And Terushima was really sweet for offering an out, but Hinata was determined.  Anxiousness be damned.  If he had to, he’d be one of those people that puke on the ride.  There was no way in hell he would back down now.  “No.  I really appreciate it.  But, I really want to ride this rollercoaster.”

With determination burning in his eyes, Hinata grabbed Terushima’s hand and faced the ride.  The group just in front of them strapped into their seats and were off.

Terushima and Hinata’s group was next.

Sweat continued to bead Hinata’s brow, and he could feel that his hand clasped by Terushima’s was sweaty.

The rollercoaster cart pulled up.

The riders disembarked, laughing in delight.

Hinata and Terushima stepped forward and took their seats toward the middle.

They buckled in.

The announcer warned them to keep their hands and feet in the ride at all times and told them to enjoy the ride.

Hinata felt like he was about to die.  He wished the seats weren’t so constricting so he could continue holding Terushima’s hand.

And then they were off.

Hinata was not too proud to say he screamed like a little girl at the first drop, but to be fair, it was the largest, steepest rollercoaster drop in the world—he was allowed to scream.  But that scream soon morphed into laughter.

He turned his head to look at his boyfriend, a giant grin replacing the previous nervous frown.  Terushima caught his look and grinned back.  As another hill came up, Terushima let out a whoop and threw his arms in the air.  Hinata laughed and mimicked his boyfriend.

When the ride finally came to an end, Hinata was barely able to hop out of his seat because he was laughing too hard.

As they staggered away, still high on the adrenaline and barely breathing from their laughter, Terushima gently pulled Hinata away from the crowd’s current.  “You good now, Shou?”

“Yeah.  That was so awesome!  It was all FWOO! And SH-PAH!  Ooh!  The view from the top was so cool!”

Terushima’s eyebrow quirked at that.  “Was it better than the view from the top of the net?”

Hinata let out a derisive laugh, stating, “No view can beat the one from the top of the net.”  He paused, a considering look on his face, and said, “But it came pretty close.”

Terushima nodded in agreement.  “Yeah, nothing beats it.  But if you want an even better view than this one, then follow me.”  With that, he took off running, Hinata following close behind.

The rest of the morning went in a similar fashion with Hinata and Terushima running and chasing in turns on their way to each ride.  It took two more rollercoasters and three more rides before they realized just how hungry they were.

After a bit of bickering back and forth about what they should get, they finally decided on something cheap and filling:  hotdogs and funnel cake.

Finding a table was another adventure and a half.  Between the screaming children and groups of teens occupying every available space, it was near impossible.  After several failed attempts at swiping a spot, Terushima decided to claim a shaded spot under a tree.  The rocks didn’t exactly make for comfortable sitting, but they made do.

They set out their food and got comfortable.  They each had three hotdogs and a funnel cake.  As they started in on their hotdogs, they started comparing their favorite rides so far.

Hinata had loved Takabisha—it had equally terrified him and excited him.  He hadn’t cared for Dodonpa or the Red Tower.  Dodonpa was kind of boring compared to the others, and Hinata loathed drop rides like the Red Tower.

Terushima, however, absolutely loved the coaster Fujiyama and was torn between choosing his favorite ride—he was stuck between the Red Tower and Tondemina.  Naturally, he was absolutely offended that Hinata hadn’t liked the Red Tower.

“Oh come on, Shou!  It’s the excitement of the unknown!  When will it drop?  How long do I get to see this view?  And then BAM!”  Terushima was gesturing with his last hotdog with every word he spoke.  Hinata feared for the poor hotdog.  Terushima jabbed his hotdog at Hinata dramatically, saying with all seriousness, “We clearly need to go again to see who’s right.”

“No way,” Hinata shouted.  “You’re just trying to get me on that stupid ride again.”

“You’re just saying it’s stupid and that you didn’t like it because you were terrified.  Admit it.”

“No.  It’s stupid because it’s stupid.  It’s a cheap thrill!”

“Cheap he says,” Terushima mumbled, finishing the last of his hotdog.  “I’ll show you.  After this, we hit it again and then book it to Eejanaika.”

“You know what?  Fine!”  Hinata threw his hands up in exasperation.  “Fine.  Have it your way.  Not going to change my mind though.”

“So you think.”

“Eat your damn funnel cake.”  Hinata, though exasperated, found Terushima’s determination adorable.  He couldn’t help smiling a bit.

“Maybe I will.”  Terushima ripped off a piece, stuffed it in his mouth, and immediately moaned.  “That is so good.  Shou, you gotta try it.”

Hinata raised his eyebrow in question.  “I am literally trying it right now.”

“No, try mine!  It’s so much better!”

“They are the exact same.”

“But mine’s still better!”  Terushima proceeded to rip off a piece of his own funnel cake and tried to feed it to Hinata.

Hinata was a bit embarrassed and kind of enjoyed the thought of Terushima feeding him—he was a bit of a closet romantic.  But his stubbornness overrode any romantic thoughts, so he valiantly tried to fight off the incoming funnel cake.

As much as Hinata tried to fight it, Terushima was stronger and able to overpower him.  However, instead of Terushima feeding Hinata the piece of funnel cake, in his haste, he had missed Hinata’s mouth and instead swiped the powdered treat all across his cheek, leaving a bright white mark.

Realizing what he’d done, Terushima tried to grab a napkin to wipe off the mark.

Hinata, taking advantage of the distraction, grabbed his own piece of funnel cake and pounced on Terushima, wiping a giant smudge of powdered sugar over his boyfriend’s face.

Thus, the great funnel cake battle began.  Rather than eat the funnel cake, they tried to rub as much powdered sugar as possible on each other’s faces, laughing the entire time.

When they finally ran out of funnel cake, they looked at each other completely covered in white powder and broke out in even more raucous laughter than before.

Turning to Hinata, Terushima pointed at his cheek and said in all seriousness, “You, uh—you have a bit of powdered sugar right there.”

“No.  Where?  Here,”  Hinata asked, voice dripping in sarcasm and gesturing to his entire face.

Terushima leaned in close to Hinata, grabbing his chin and gently tilting his face towards his own.  “No.  I meant here.”  And then he kissed him.

It was a soft, slow kiss.  The sweetness of the kiss and the powdered sugar combined left Hinata in a daze.  He was disappointed when Terushima broke away with a smug look on his face.  He was also a bit miffed at that smugness.

Tamping down on the urge to smirk at Terushima, he leaned in and with a husky voice said, “You have a bit of sugar on you too.”  Terushima’s face lit up with excitement.

“Get it for me,” Terushima asked as he closed his eyes.

Hinata gently cupped his boyfriend’s face and promptly licked a giant stripe from his chin to just below his eye and pulled away.  At Terushima’s horrified expression, he burst into hysterics.  The betrayed look coupled with the single stripe of clear skin was priceless.  He wished he had his phone out to capture this moment.

Terushima seemed to shake himself out of his daze because the laughter that made its way out was beautiful.  He tackled Hinata in a tight hug, rubbing his face against the ginger’s.  “You’re so weird.  I love it.”

“You’re just as weird,” Hinata weakly retaliated.  Terushima hummed in agreement.

“We’re a good match.”

“Yeah.”

A comfortable silence stretched before Terushima whispered in his ear, “You’re still not getting out of riding the Red Tower again.”  In response, Hinata saw fit to punch him in the shoulder.  Hard.

“Fine.  But we better get going if we want to make it to Eejanaika before they close the lines.”

Terushima was the first to break away, trying and failing to pat off the powdered sugar.  Hinata had admitted defeat and figured the rides would have a better chance at removing the powder than he did.

Hinata grabbed Terushima’s hand and pulled, saying, “Come on, weirdo.”  With that, they took off.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, they were finally on the train home.  They were still covered in powdered sugar; white marks streaked across their clothes and dusting their hair.  They had managed to wash off their faces in the bathroom, but the rest stubbornly remained.

In their seat on the train, Hinata was laying practically on top of Terushima who was leaning against the wall.  They could barely remember the bus ride to the station because they were so tired from all the running around and standing in the hot sun.

Hinata was beyond comfortable, and from the way Terushima had his arms wrapped snuggly around him and nuzzled into Hinata, he felt the same as well.

They were almost dozing, much like this morning.  Hinata was reluctant to break the moment, but he felt he had to.

Hinata’s voice was quiet as he said, “Hey, Yuuji.”  A soft hum from Terushima in acknowledgement was all he needed to continue.  “Thanks for today.”

Hinata could make out Terushima’s mumble, “Don’t mention it.”  With his face pressed against Hinata’s shoulder, he could feel his lips move.

“No, seriously.  You paid for everything.  And it was really nice.  The best first date ever.”  Hinata wanted to make sure Terushima knew just how much this first date meant to him.

“Seriously.  Don’t worry about it.”  From the movement behind him and the slightly louder voice, Terushima had pulled away from the cusp of sleep in order to respond properly.  “My mom was so excited about my date that she gave me money and said to treat you right.  She wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Besides, you deserve to go on an awesome first date with your awesome boyfriend.”

Hinata was still reeling in shock from the revelation of Terushima’s mom knowing it was a date that he didn’t even quip about the awesome boyfriend comment.  He must have been silent for too long because Terushima pulled him in tighter and asked, “What’s wrong, Shou?  You that upset I paid for everything?”

Hinata swallowed hard.  “I, uh—I didn’t know you already told your mom about me.”

“Well, yeah.  Of course I would.”

“Well….  I haven’t exactly told my mother about you.  I mean, I’ve told her about you, but I haven’t told her that we’re dating I mean.”  Hinata could feel Terushima’s body tense and quickly said, “Not that I’m embarrassed or anything!  I really like you!  It’s more that I….  I-I haven’t told her that I’m gay.  So I was just surprised, you know, that you had told your mom and that she was so excited she gave you money to spend on us.  It was just a shock.”

Terushima was loosening up, but there was definitely still tension in his frame.  “You don’t have to answer, Shou, but if you don’t mind my asking, why haven’t you told her?”

Hinata took a moment to think about how to phrase his thoughts.  “My mom’s amazing.  And I know she loves me.  And she’s super cool and supportive; I mean, just look at my face.  I couldn’t have gotten all of these without her support.  And I _know_ if I told her I’m gay, she’d be really cool about it; but, there’s still that remote possibility she won’t be.  It’s like, what if this is the thing that pushes her over?  What if _this_ is the thing she can’t handle?  I know I shouldn’t be so strung out about it, but I can’t help worrying.”

Terushima had been silent throughout the explanation.  By the end of it, the tension had drained completely from his body.  Hinata wondered what he was thinking.  If he thought Hinata was weak for not doing something he had already done with his own family.

“Shouyou, thank you for sharing.  I know it seems really hard because I’ve been there and felt that way too.  But, getting it out, even if you’re unsure of the outcome, feels really good.  When I told my family, a whole weight felt like it had been removed from my chest.  And I know I’m making it sound really easy, especially when you’re this anxious about it.  But, I really think your mom would be alright with it.  Like you said, she hasn’t stopped you from getting all those piercings.  With a mom like that, I think she’d be alright with it.”

Terushima took a deep breath before continuing, “That being said, I’m not going to force you to out yourself or anything.  But, I think you’d be happier telling her.  Just know I’m here for you no matter what.  Okay?”  Terushima moved his head to brush a kiss to the top of Hinata’s head.

Hinata’s eyes watered, but he did not cry.  “Thank you, Yuuji.”  Hinata linked his right hand over Terushima’s right hand, bringing it up to kiss his boyfriend’s palm.

Terushima pulled their connected hands up so he could kiss the back of Hinata’s in return.  “Welcome.  And thank you back.”

Hinata hummed.  “Why’re you thanking me?”

“For sharing.  For choosing me.  For an awesome date.”  Terushima shrugged lightly and said, “For being you.”

Hinata smiled and snuggled, if possible, closer.  “Thanks for being you, too.”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Terushima removed his hand to rummage in his pocket.  He pulled out the earbuds, putting one in his own ear and dangling the other in front of Hinata’s face.  “Here.  You still haven’t heard all the songs yet.  We’ve got enough time for maybe two albums.”

Hinata grabbed for the earbud and placed it in his ear, linking their fingers together when he was done.

A lighter, acoustic version of a previously heard song began.  Before he knew it, Hinata was lulled to sleep.

 

* * *

 

At the station, they were wrapped around each other once more.  Hinata breathed in Terushima one last time before shifting away.  “I know I said it before, but thanks again for today.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Thanks for saying yes.  I had you really surprised, huh?”

“Not as surprised as you when I licked your face,” Hinata quipped back.

Terushima looked scandalized and protested, “Because you licked my face!  I thought you were gonna kiss me!”  He finished by sticking his tongue out at Hinata.

“You know,” Hinata started slowly, “you’d look pretty good with a tongue piercing.”

Terushima tilted his head in question.  “Really?  You think so?”  He pulled his right lobe in thought, fiddling with the black stud.  “I’ve thought about it before.  Maybe I should.”  He eyed Hinata and smirked, “Think I’d look hotter?  You imagining me with a tongue piercing?  Hmm?”

Hinata elbowed him lightly with a small blush on his face.  “Shut up.  Maybe I have.  You stick your tongue out enough that I figured it’d give me something pretty to look at.”  He then stuck his own tongue out at Terushima.

The older boy only laughed in response.

“Sure.  Keep telling yourself that.”  Terushima pulled a pouting Hinata into his arms again, hugging him tight.  “We should probably head home now.”

“Yeah.”

Neither moved.

“I really don’t want to let you go yet,” Hinata said.

“Me neither.”

A solemn silence surrounded them, broken by Hinata’s sighing.  “I’ll let you know when I’m free next.”

“Same.”

“I still don’t want to let go.”

“Same.”

Hinata looked up at Terushima and got on his tiptoes to kiss Terushima.  What was meant to be a light peck became more as Terushima moved his lips against Hinata’s.  Their lips were chapped and Hinata had gotten a bit excited, smashing their noses painfully together at first.  But, they soon found their own rhythm, taking things slowly.

Hinata didn’t think he’d ever kissed someone this long before.  It had never held as much feeling either.

When they finally broke the kiss, they stared at each other, just taking everything in.  In the crappy yellow lighting of the train station, Hinata couldn’t help but think how good his boyfriend looked, and how happy he was that all of this was his.

Terushima leaned in to kiss his cheek and softly said, “Text me when you get home, okay?”

Hinata nodded.  “You too.”

They both unlocked their bikes and went their separate ways.

 

* * *

 

As Hinata walked up to his front door, he mentally prepared himself for what he planned to do.  After his and Terushima’s talk, Hinata had gained enough confidence to decide to tell his mother about his boyfriend and everything else tonight.  He knew if he waited any longer he would chicken out and then feel guilty.  He also really wanted to share how happy he was with one of the most important people in his life, and he couldn’t do that if she didn’t know about him.

Taking one more steadying breath, Hinata unlocked the door and stepped inside.  He knew that despite the late hour, she would have stayed up waiting for him to come home—she was just that sweet.

As he walked through the halls, he could see the faint glow of a light coming from the living room.  She would most likely be reading.  Padding softly into the room, he was proved right as she sat curled up on the couch with a lovingly worn book in hand.

Instead of disrupting her, he stood quietly, observing the way she looked in this moment.  With no children to fret over and no chores, she looked relaxed.  The worry lines that could be seen in the daylight were softened.  She wasn’t very old when she had first had Shouyou, but supporting two children alone had aged her.  In this light and with no worries, though, she seemed young.  It made Hinata wonder how she looked when she was his age.

She must have noticed him at some point because suddenly she was setting her book down.  She smiled at him, gesturing for him to take a seat.  “How’s my firecracker tonight,” she asked as he made himself comfortable next to her.  “Have a good time?”

“I had a great time, mom.”  As he recounted his day, she made all the appropriate responses—gasping at the terrifying rollercoasters and rides, laughing at the funnel cake fight, and chiding him for making a scene.  Of course, he had to edit out the handholding and kissing parts, but he could add those in after their talk.

“It sounds like you had a great time, Shou.”  He really had.  And seeing her this happy for him made him feel even more resolve to reveal the truth about the day and, more importantly, himself.

He fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he gathered his courage.  But before he could even open his mouth, his mother interjected, “Is there something bothering you, Shou?”  At her genuinely worried expression, he crumpled.

“Y-Yeah.  I’m fine, mom.  But, I need to tell you something.”  He paused before continuing, “I-I’ve been putting it off, but you need to know.  I need to know you know.”

As Hinata sucked in a shaky breath, his mother settled her hand on his knee in a show of support and comfort.

“Mom, I’m gay.”

Hinata held his breath, eyes downcast.  He was too afraid to look at his mother, too afraid to see if his worst fear had come to pass.

Silence stretched.

Hinata felt his heart crumbling when he felt a gentle hand under his chin, raising his head to gaze into his mother’s eyes.  Hinata Chiharu had a gentle smile on her face as her hand shifted to cup her son’s cheek.  “Oh, Shou.  My little firecracker.  I’ve been waiting for you to tell me.”

Hinata didn’t know how to respond—he was feeling far too much.  So he threw himself at his mother, clinging to her with a death grip.  She wrapped him just as tightly in her arms.  It wasn’t until he moved away and spied the wet mark on his mother’s shirt that he realized he was crying.

After wiping the tears and gathering himself together, he was finally able to form a coherent sentence.  “You knew?”

“Oh, honey,” his mother gently said with an amused glint in her eye.  “I’ve known for a while.  I’ve watched you for years.  It’s hard to miss when your child doesn’t know the concept of subtlety and sees an attractive boy walk by.”

Hinata squawked in embarrassment.  “I know how to be subtle!”

“Your crush on Kouji-kun was anything but subtle,” she rebutted.  “He was just oblivious.”

Hinata had to laugh at that.  She wasn’t wrong.  Kouji always thought the looks the girls and boys threw his way were aimed at Izumi or Hinata.  If he knew how many people had approached their little group in an attempt to woo him, the poor guy would’ve died from embarrassment.

“Still,” he pressed, “that doesn’t mean I’m not subtle.  I can be real subtle.”

“Ah.  As subtle as you were about today being a date?”

Hinata gaped at her.  He had definitely not given his mother enough credit.  How had she known?  He had barely known enough details to give anything away.

“The blushing,” she answered in response to his unasked question.  “You have your father’s tendency to blush at the drop of a hat.  Bright red no less.  Especially the ears.”  She tapped the top of his right ear, next to the industrial, in emphasis.  “It didn’t take a great leap of logic to notice a pattern.  Every time Terushima-kun’s name came up you got as red as a cherry.  It only got worse these past few days.”

Just like his mother said, he could feel the blush burn his cheeks and ears at the mention of Terushima.

“Now,” and just like that, his mother’s voice took on a stern tone as she leveled him with a piercing stare, “I need all the details.  Tell me everything.  When did you start dating officially?  How did the date go?  Have you kissed yet?  Why are you blushing, Shou?  Oh!  So you _have_ kissed!  Ah!”

They spoke like this long into the night.  His mother bombarded him with questions to which he tended to blush and stutter, but answered truthfully nonetheless—she deserved honesty after all the deception.  As embarrassing as it was, he was happy to share with her; she was his rock, and it had been extremely difficult to keep such a large part of himself from her.

By this point, he was leaning against her side, her hand carding through his hair like when he was younger.  They were speaking quietly now with more silences interspersed between them.

“So, Shou,” Hinata Chiharu started, “what prompted you to finally tell me?”  Hinata could tell she wanted to say more, but was holding herself back.

“Me and Yuuji were talking, and he told me his mother knew about us.  He said she was so excited and all I could think of was how nice that must be and how I hadn’t told you because I was so afraid.”  The hand carding through his hair had stopped at that last comment.  “After talking about it, he convinced me to tell you.”

“You were that afraid?”  Hinata had never heard his mother’s voice so soft before.  “Oh, Shou.  I thought you knew I’d be more accepting than that.”  The hand in his hair tensed and curled before relaxing and running through his hair once more.  “I loved you when you first told me you wanted piercings.  And I loved you each time you wanted more.  I loved you when you got bad grades because you were too focused on volleyball.  I still love you now.  Every little quirk and fault and piece of you is loved.  I don’t want you to ever forget that or worry that I’ll stop loving you for any reason.”

Hinata could feel tears in his eyes once more.  His mother really was the best.  He’d fight anyone that would say otherwise.

“I love you too, mom.”

He didn’t know how long they silently enjoyed each other’s love and warmth when his mother prompted, “So how do you feel about this Terushima Yuuji?  It takes someone of great worth to get my stubborn boy to relent.”

Hinata smiled, still teary from earlier.  “I really, really like him.  More than I thought I would.”  His mother hummed in acknowledgement that she heard him.  It was a wordless prompt to continue—she knew there was more he had to say.  “Is it weird that I like him this much so soon?  We haven’t even been together a month, and I feel so deeply for him.  Is that strange?”

Hinata Chiharu chuckled.  “Just like your father.”  It was with both joy and sorrow whenever his mother said this—how could he be so much like a man he could barely remember?  “He used to tell me that it was love at first sight.”  She chuckled lightly, lost in the memory.  “He was such an exaggerator.  Later in our relationship, we spoke of our exes.  He confided that he had never fallen so far, so fast for anyone until he met me.  You know, it was only a week into our relationship that he told me he loved me?  I was terrified, of course, because who does that?”

When the silence stretched once more, Hinata leaned his head a bit further back so he could see his mother’s face.  Her eyes were distant and she had a bittersweet smile upon her face.

Before long, she gave a small laugh and shook herself back into the present.  “I guess you would too.  You seem to have fallen quite fast.  But then, you wouldn’t be my firecracker if you didn’t go off full blast into something you love.”

“I-I don’t know if I love him.  Yet, I mean.”

“And that’s okay.  But I can tell just from looking at you that you really care for him.”  She hugged him tightly and whispered softly in his ear, “Just remember I’m here for you if you need me.”

She pulled away, a finger tapping the corner of her mouth.  “Hmm.  You should invite him over for dinner sometime.  Oh!  What a lovely idea.  If he wants, he could spend the night too.  I have some lovely photos of you from when you were a baby that I could show him.  And those cute little cards you would write me in elementary.”  As his mother prattled on, Hinata could do nothing but stare in horror.

“Oh, Shou?!  Do you even realize what time it is?  Way past bedtime.  I have to be up in a few hours for work.  No amount of coffee will salvage my morning.  I might as well be a zombie.  A zombie that drinks coffee anyway.  I wonder if zombies drink coffee.  Do they eat brains of people who’ve had coffee to compensate?  Gwah!  That’d be so cool!”  Hinata loved his mother.  As much as she said he was like his father, he had to argue, at least to himself, that he was much more like his mother.

“Shou!  I told you to get to bed.  Now, shoo!  You have practice in the morning, don’t you?”

“Hwa!  Oh no!  Kageyama will definitely have had more sleep than me.  What if he beats me in our race?  Or I miss a toss?  No way!  Sleep! Sleep!  Here I come, sleep!”  As he rushed around the corner to get to his room, he grabbed it at the last second to swing back around so he could shout to his mother, “Night, mom!  Love you!”  Continuing his mad dash to his bedroom, Hinata couldn’t help but be so grateful for the people in his life, especially his mother and Terushima.


	3. Chapter 3

The sun was still lethargically climbing its way into the sky as voices echoed out across the as yet empty campus.

“Nice kill!”

“One more!  One more!”

“Don’t mind!”

“One touch!”

It was a typical Friday morning for the Karasuno team.  Practice was in full swing with every member working themselves to the bone, sweat pouring down their faces.  It was mid-May and practices had become grueling with the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries coming up fast in June.  After Karasuno’s overwhelming defeat by Nekoma at their practice match, the team had been doggedly practicing and preparing, driven by the need to win—to prove that they were no longer flightless.

Despite such wearing practices, Hinata was on the top of his game today, easily outstripping everyone with his energy.  He felt like he was flying, and his jumps reflected that feeling, pushing him higher above the net than ever.

Even Tsukishima’s sass couldn’t bring him down today.  And it was all because of one small, tiny, infinitesimal, little detail about this particular Friday.

Tonight would be Hinata’s second date with Terushima.

It was a little over one month since their first official date, so Hinata was incredibly excited.  This date, however, was not going to be just any date.  This date was going to be special.

This would be the two of them going to Tokyo to see a band that Hinata has loved for a long time:  coldrain.  He hadn’t had the chance to see them the last time they toured because the tickets had sold out almost immediately after their release.  In addition, he had found out that the opening band was Another Story.  Hinata had been following them since their inception, having fallen in love with their vocals (and, if he was being honest, the lead vocalist) from the very first verse.

To say he was ecstatic would be an understatement.  The fact that Terushima was able to snag two tickets still blew Hinata’s mind.  He had already decided that his boyfriend was the best; this had only cemented that fact.

Which brought him to the other reason tonight would be special.  After the concert, he would be staying the night at Terushima’s.  Meaning he would be staying in the same house and possibly the same room and possibly even the same bed as his boyfriend.  This translated to a lot of quality time spent with Terushima.

With so much to look forward to, it was no wonder that his excitement was bleeding into practice.

GWOON!

Another spike left the ginger’s palm to unrelentingly slam into the ground on the other side of the net, bringing the practice match to an end.  The score was 25-21, Hinata’s team winning the set.

“Good practice, everyone,” Daichi’s voice rang out in the gym.  “Start your cool down stretches and then clean up.  We’ll talk about what needs more work at the afternoon practice.”

With a loud clap, everyone broke away to stretch.  Everyone except Hinata, who was on a mission.

“Daichi!”  The captain turned, eyebrow raised in question before smoothing out to an inviting smile.

“What’s up, Hinata?”

“I needed to talk to you.  I won’t be at tonight’s practice.”

Daichi’s jaw dropped.  “Are you feeling alright?  Are you sick?  Is someone in the hospital?  You know the team’s here for you no matter what, right?”  Hinata would’ve laughed at his captain’s response if he didn’t understand exactly how out of character it was for him to miss practice.  Considering that he usually begged to stay and practice later, it was no wonder Daichi assumed the worst.

“No, it’s nothing like that.”  A chuckle escaped despite himself.  “I just have plans that can’t be changed.”  Hinata had just opened his mouth to fully explain when a hand came out of nowhere to gently rest against his forehead.

“He must be hallucinating,” Sugawara stated with a serious look on his face.  “But he doesn’t feel like he has a fever.”  The setter’s serious look fell into a teasing grin, but Hinata could still hear the edge of disbelief in his voice.

In response, he maturely knocked the hand away and stuck his tongue out at the third year.  Maybe Terushima was rubbing off on him.  “I swear I’m not sick.  I just have plans.”

“What kind of plans,” Kageyama inquired from behind the ginger, butting into the conversation and causing Hinata to jump.  Turning to look at his teammate, Hinata took in the crossed arms and the demanding glare focused on him.

Huffing a little, Hinata petulantly declared, “It’s a concert.” Seeing the questioning looks, he elaborated, “In order to get there on time, I have to leave right after classes.  Otherwise, I’d be at practice.”

Daichi, Sugawara, and Kageyama looked surprised at the explanation.  Hinata could practically hear their thoughts:  _Hinata Shouyou, renowned volleyball nut, was going to skip out on practice for a concert.  What?_

Kageyama must have shaken off the surprise faster than the others because he was the first to break the silence.  “You’re skipping for a concert.”  His judgmental tone was practically dripping disapproval.

“Hey now,” Sugawara intervened, “It’s fine if Hinata needs to skip a practice.  He hasn’t missed any others and he practically has to be dragged away at the end of them.  One miss won’t hurt.  Right, captain?”  Sugawara turned his gaze to Daichi, silently prompting him to nip the confrontation in the bud before it could escalate.

Daichi shook himself out of his stupor and nodded in agreement.  “Right.  It’s fine, Hinata.  We’ll miss you tonight, but have fun and be ready to practice hard tomorrow morning.”

A grin broke over Hinata’s face as he saluted.  “Roger, captain!”

“Now get to stretching.  We don’t need you getting hurt because you didn’t take proper care of yourself.”  The words weren’t necessary as the short decoy was already stretching.

Hinata mentally apologized to his captain as he moved into a new position.  He would definitely be gaining some new war wounds from the pit later that night.

 

* * *

 

As soon as the last bell rang, Hinata was running out of the school building.  All of the pent-up excitement from waiting through his classes was finally given release as he escaped to his bike, hopped on, and pedaled like no tomorrow.

Finally having an outlet for his energy was part of it, but mostly he was just impatient for everything to come.  There was so much to look forward to.

He couldn’t wait to put in his piercings.  Even though Karasuno didn’t have any rules strictly prohibiting piercings, Hinata had still been wary about wearing any—more out of habit than anything else. The frequent volleyball practices, however, were the deciding factor.  He had decided to leave them out in order to prevent possible injuries from balls hitting his face (his receives and blocks still really needed work).  So, with so little time otherwise to be himself in full, body jewelry and all, it was no wonder that he was excited for tonight.

And then there were the bands—the bands!—that he was freaking out about seeing.  He still couldn’t believe Terushima had gotten two tickets to coldrain and Another Story.  He wanted to scream in excitement.

And it was all because of his wonderful, handsome, snarky boyfriend.  Ever since that first date, they had been closer than ever.  Terushima’s gentle nudging for Hinata to talk to his mom had been the greatest advice.  The late night talk the next night had Hinata quietly thanking Terushima for making him take the leap.  Ever since, they had become even closer.

They had yet to have another date though—school and practice had taken over their free time, especially with the Miyagi Interhigh Preliminaries looming ever closer.  This just made tonight that much better in Hinata’s mind.  He could finally spend some quality time with Terushima.  Maybe even spend the night cuddled up with the older boy after the concert.

Although, Terushima’s mother was an unknown to Hinata, so he couldn’t be sure what her expectations and reactions would be.  He knew she was accepting of their relationship, overjoyed even; but, he didn’t know if she was the type to have them sleep in separate rooms or something.  He knew his own mother wouldn’t mind them sleeping in the same bed as long as he left his door open.

Actually, Hinata Chiharu had originally wanted to host the boys after the concert, but Terushima’s house was closer to the train station.  Hinata, however, had to promise her that they would stay at her house the next time.  She had simply responded with a “naturally” and had commented that they had better be decent young men and not cause Terushima’s mother any undue grief by getting up to funny business.  “Make him wait for it, Shou,” she had said with a wink and a laugh.  He had never blushed so hard in his life.  He wasn’t even ready for that just yet.  All he wanted was cuddling and kissing, damnit!

And he would get it.  He planned on taking advantage of the time they had together tonight.  He could already imagine the warmth and comfort of being tangled together on the bed.  Tender kisses shared in the dark, unrushed.  The soft caress of skin against skin.  Fingers carding through hair.  Hinata sighed just thinking of the intimacy that they’ve been deprived of due to time and distance.  Tonight, though, he would definitely be getting as much physical contact as possible.

Hinata was a tactile person by nature.  While he was happy with the calls and texts, he couldn’t deny that some days he just really wanted a hug from his boyfriend.

As a matter of fact, he should be getting one shortly if the directions he was given were correct.  Checking the address one last time, Hinata hopped off of his bike and headed toward Terushima’s front door. 

Actually, now that he thought about it, there would be at least three Terushimas in the house.  This would be confusing.  He had never had this issue with his childhood friends Kouji and Izumi—mainly because they had always called each other by their given names and he had been close enough to their parents to use their given names as well.  And he had never had extended contact with his other friend’s parents to even worry about this kind of thing.

He took a few more moments at the front door to take some calming breaths before shrugging to himself.  He was overthinking things again.  He shouldn’t worry about such trivialities.

Nodding to himself, Hinata knocked and waited, humming a song to keep his nervousness at bay.

Muffled shouting and heavy steps could be heard through the door.  Hinata leaned in closer out of curiosity, hoping he could hear what was on the other side.  Without warning, the door was suddenly opened, leaving the ginger to flail his arms so as to not fall flat on his face.

With his face pointed toward the ground, he could only see a pair of soft white slippers and thin ankles.  A warm laugh made him straighten into a proper bow as he introduced himself.  “I’m Hinata Shouyou!  Nice to meet you, Terushima-san!  Thank you for having me!”

A soft cough made Hinata stand at attention and blush.  The woman before him was waifish, looking as though she would be knocked over at the slightest breeze—her loose clothes only emphasized this.  Chestnut brown hair was twisted into a loose bun on the top of her head.  Amber eyes with laugh lines gazed at him fondly.

“Hello, Hinata-kun!”  The woman’s boisterous voice startled him as it was completely at odds with her delicate appearance.  “It’s a pleasure to have you.  I’m surprised my idiot son hasn’t scared you off yet.  Please come in before you decide to run.”  She moved aside, gesturing into the house.  Then, leaned in close, conspiratorially stage whispering, “I might run anyway if I were you.”  An outraged shout was heard from further back in the house as the woman, undoubtedly Terushi—Yuuji’s mother stood back up at her full height, a smirk twisting her face.

Yuuji’s voice, slightly distorted, rang out, “Hi, Shou!  Don’t listen to a thing that old crone says!  I’ll be out in a sec!”

Instead of the woman yelling, like he expected, she let out a booming laugh.  “Ah it’s nice to see him so excited.  Well, hear him so excited at least.  I’ve never seen him worry about his clothing as much as I have today.  As soon as he came home, he was in his closet.”  She shook her head.  “Ah well, youth.  In any case, my name is Terushima Haya.  You can just call me Haya.”  Clapping her hands together twice, she started walking down the hall.  “Follow me!  I’ll give you a quick tour and show you where you can change.”

As Haya showed Hinata around her home, he couldn’t help but admire the photographs lining the walls.  Little Yuuji tackling neighborhood boys while covered head to toe in mud.  A middle school Yuuji hugging a large, white dog—most likely Kasumi—in their front yard.   A formal family portrait of Yuuji, his parents, and Kasumi.  Yuuji’s parents at their wedding.  Yuuji’s middle school graduation.  So on and so on down the hall and scattered liberally throughout the house.  Each picture was precious, making Hinata smile.

A cleared throat shook him from his examination.  Haya had her arms crossed, her hip cocked, and a sardonic smile on her face.  “I know.  We’re pretty.”  Hinata could feel his entire body flush in embarrassment.  “I was saying that you can use our guest bedroom to change.  This room.  Right here.”  She turned to walk away, leaving with an airy, “Try not to get lost!”

Hinata just stared as she walked away.  He could definitely see how his boyfriend had developed his snarky personality.

Shaking his head clear his thoughts, Hinata walked into the guest room, closed the door, and dropped his bags onto the bed.

Having packed everything before school, he didn’t have to waste time looking for an outfit—not that he would anyway as he wasn’t the type of person to worry about clothes.  The pair of well-worn jeans and a coldrain band tee were evidence enough of this.  Instead, the majority of his time packing last night had been spent deciding on what body jewelry to wear.

While he wasn’t the type to worry about his outfit, he was meticulous about his body jewelry.  Hinata had always believed that body modification of any form was an extremely personal form of self-expression.  Consequently, he tended to take his time to choose which pieces he would wear.  He had quite the collection built up.  Some pieces he had bought for fun, some his family or friends had recommended, and others he had bought for more personal reasons.

Tonight, he wanted to enjoy his time with Yuuji, but he also wanted to show how much their relationship has grown; so, he let his jewelry reflect that.  The black studs he got for his first piercing were extremely personal, a dusky rose pink stud for his nose that Natsu had chosen for him, the orange and black industrial he had recently bought to represent his team with the balls switched out for stylized volleyball ones, and silly cartoonish Gojiras were among the several pieces he chose.

After affixing each one, he quickly got dressed and grabbed his wallet.

As he left the guest room, he realized he really hadn’t paid enough attention to not get lost in the house.  His search led him to find a linen closet, a bathroom, another bedroom, and the kitchen.  Eventually, his wandering led him to a living room with Yuuji, Haya, and their dog Kasumi.  Hinata took a moment to just take in the soft scene.  Haya and Yuuji were talking, sharing lighthearted barbs and laughter, while Kasumi was rolling around on the floor.

It was ruined, however, when Kasumi had clearly had enough of being ignored and jumped on Yuuji’s lap, stepping on a very tender place between his legs.  A high-pitched shout ripped its way out of his boyfriend’s throat as he curled in on himself, allowing the happy dog to drape herself over the older wing spiker.  Terushima Haya’s cackling topped it all off.

Hinata couldn’t help but laugh at the scene.

A low groan preceded a subdued, “You _would_ laugh at my pain, wouldn’t you?  I feel the love.”

Haya snorted in response and called the big white fluff of a dog, who barked and trotted over.  “Good girl, Kasumi.  Such a sweetheart.”

Hinata, for his part, said nothing and walked over to his crumpled, groaning boyfriend.  He leaned against the back of the couch, and bent down to his level.  “You okay?”

Yuuji groaned.  “Nooo.”  Hinata snorted a soft laugh.  Yuuji turned his head to really look at Hinata, a sharp gleam in his eye.  “Why don’t you kiss it better?”

Before Hinata could even think to respond, a white slipper flew just under Hinata’s nose to smack Yuuji in the face with pinpoint precision.  Hinata turned in time to see Haya’s arm lower back to its previous place on the arm of the couch.  Her eyes were narrowed on her son as she said, “There will be none of that.”  She turned to Hinata, saying, “Apologies for my idiot son, Hinata-kun.”

The ginger nervously ruffled his hair and replied, “Uh, it’s alright.  And you can just call me Shouyou if I can call you Haya.”

Haya smiled sweetly and nodded.  “Anyway, shouldn’t you two be leaving now?”

Both boys looked and each other and scrambled to get to the door to put their shoes on, grinning all the while.

 

* * *

 

Each step was a familiar discomfort.  Every press into the concrete would send a hollow ache from the bottom of his feet up through his legs and into his chest, mixing with the lingering hum of adrenaline leftover from the concert.

Despite the weariness that was undoubtedly creeping up on him, Hinata couldn’t help but cling to those lingering feelings that sharpened everything into something brighter.  The moonlight overhead and the amber glow from the streetlamps lining every few corners only added to the mystique of Hinata and Yuuji’s trek.

It would have been serene if not for the fact that they kept feeding off of each other’s post-concert high.  Needless to say, the walk from the train station to the Terushima household was filled with running, lots of shoving, and plenty of shouting.

When Yuuji’s house was a few blocks away, they looked at each other and took off at a dead run.  The race wasn’t a fair fight by any means as they tried to trip each other up.  They were fairly neck and neck until Yuuji managed to grab Hinata’s arm and pulled while he stuck his leg out to trip him, taking away any stability the ginger might have used to save himself from the fall.

Hinata, however, wasn’t a pushover by any means.  He made sure to hold onto the older boy’s arm as he took the fall.  If he was going down, so was Yuuji.  The two painfully crashed to the ground, skidding across concrete and grass alike.

Despite the momentary pain, both were grinning, enjoying the competition and roughhousing.

They continued to claw and shove each other all the way to the front door of the house where they promptly collapsed, breathing heavily and leaning against each other.

“I…totally…won,” Yuuji declared between deep breaths.

Hinata’s response was a light punch to the older teen’s leg.  He would’ve hit harder, but he couldn’t be bothered to.  He was too busy enjoying the moment.  “No…way,” he rasped.  “I won.”

Yuuji just huffed in amusement, leaning more heavily against the decoy.  “Bullshit and you know it.”

There was silence.  And then there was laughter.  They fell over each other, not even bothering to keep their voices low.

Collapsed against each other like this, Hinata couldn’t help but stare at Yuuji.  He already knew he was falling far too fast for the snarky volleyball player.  But in this moment, if only in the deepest part of his mind, he could recognize and admit that he just might be in love with the idiot.  Maybe.

He knew from the first moment he saw him that Yuuji was handsome.  Even now, slumped over on the ground, a sweating and mussed mess, Hinata couldn’t help but think that his boyfriend was the most attractive person he had ever seen.

“What’s that look for?”

Hinata blinked back into focus, noticing how Yuuji was staring back at him in half amusement and half curiosity.

He smirked and replied, “Just admiring the view.”

Yuuji smiled softly and leaned in for a peck.

He stood, brushing off the lingering grass and dirt before offering his hand to Hinata.  After helping to brush off the ginger, he unlocked the door and they entered.

It was like they had crossed some magical barrier because, as soon as Hinata stepped past the threshold, he felt bone tired.  It was as though the doorway had cleansed him of the jittering excitement that had clung to him since leaving the concert.

Yuuji must have felt the same because as they made their way to his room, they both leaned heavily on each other.

Communicating silently, Yuuji took to the bathroom first for a shower while Hinata stumbled his way back to the guest bedroom to grab his bag.  Upon returning to Yuuji’s room, Hinata promptly dropped his bag, forgoing any attempt at digging for his shower things, and flopped backwards onto the messy bed.

As he waited for Yuuji to finish, he examined the dim room—neither boy wanted to turn on the bright light, so they were left with the hazy light escaping through the gaps of the closet’s closed doors.

With the bit of illumination, Hinata could see a mishmash of band posters and tattoo art pages covering the walls.  He recognized most of the band posters:  coldrain, Maximum the Hormone, The Pillows, One OK Rock, and NEW BREED among many others.  The ones he didn’t recognize, he determined to ask Yuuji about later.

There were also a few volleyballs around the room, dirty clothes shoved into a corner, and a surprisingly clean desk with notebooks stacked on one side.  A few picture frames were sitting on the back of the desk, too obscured by shadows for Hinata to make out any real details.  Although, after seeing the many photos out in the halls of the house, he safely assumed that Yuuji had adopted the same habit and littered part of his desk with pictures of his family and friends.

Despite the snarky and sometimes prickly outside, Yuuji was really a softy at heart.

A strip of light unexpectedly hitting his face had Hinata turning to the source.  The door had been opened, revealing a damp Yuuji wearing only black sweatpants.  He was rubbing a towel over his dripping hair.  A water droplet trailed from his cheek down to his chin.  Hinata followed it lazily, completely tuning out his boyfriend’s voice.

Waving hands made him focus back.  “Shou,” Yuuji’s voice was soft and amused, “your turn.”  Hinata let a soft hum be his answer as he gathered his things and walked to the door.

A smack to his ass made him blush and turn a narrowed gaze at his boyfriend.  A tongue poking out, now adorned with a black stud—Hinata may have excitedly squealed when he first noticed on the trek to the train earlier that day—was the vision that greeted him.

He huffed and made his way to the bathroom.

After closing the door and settling his things on the sink, he began to strip.

A little bit of fiddling around with the knobs gave him the perfect temperature water for his shower.  When he was fully in, he let himself relax under the spray.  It was a great but tiring day.

Going about washing, he took notice of his bruises and scrapes.

A large splotchy shadow on his right side was slowing blooming into a bruise from his and Terushima’s tumble on the way to the house.  He distinctly remembered landing on a rocky clump of ground.  The splotchy section of red and torn skin above his ankle was from some guy’s shoe tearing down his leg as he jumped around at the concert.  The big toe on his left foot was an ugly mix of green and yellow.  Some damned idiot girl in six inch heels stepped on his foot.  Who the hell even wears six inch heels in the pit?!

The giant bruise on his left hip, however, was a whole other story.

Hinata and Yuuji had lost themselves in the ebb and flow of the music.  They were slamming into each other and the crowd with abandon, screaming lyrics without restraint.  Hinata could feel all his stress and worries falling away as he let the music and people guide him.

It was in this moment of ecstasy, in the middle of the coldrain set, that Yuuji came upon him.  His handsome boyfriend was lit up beautifully by the lights once more.  A smirk adorned his face as he sidled up and kissed him passionately.  The tongue ring swiping against his lips was a new and thrilling experience.  Hinata was completely swept away by the sensation.  Between the searing kiss and the thrum of the concert, Hinata was overwhelmed.

Yuuji broke away from his lips and kissed his way to Hinata’s ear.  Then he whispered, “Fly, Shou.”

Hinata, still in a daze, didn’t realize what was about to happen until it was already too late.  Without warning, Hinata was airborne.  And suddenly he was crowd surfing.

Hinata was pissed.  He never really cared for crowd surfing.  He had seen too many people dropped at concerts.  As such, he had never bothered to try it for fear that he would be one of the ones dropped and rushed to the hospital.

But, in his present position from on top of several people, he couldn’t deny that he was also kind of excited.  The crowd was pushing him closer and closer to the band and he had never had such a perfect view from so close.  He promptly decided that he was already in this position, so he might as well make the most of it and plot the destruction of his boyfriend later.

Screaming the lyrics for all he was worth, grin splitting his face, he failed to realize in time that the song was ending and he hadn’t made it to the front of the crowd where security was very kindly grabbing crowd surfers and placing them safely back on the ground.  Unfortunately, the song ended.  The crowd stopped lifting him.

Hinata quickly found himself falling hard onto the unforgiving concrete, bruising his hip.

He also found himself with a need for swift and brutal retaliation.

On his way back to his spot, he made sure to skirt the edge of the crowd so that Yuuji couldn’t see him coming.  Another song had begun by this point and the mosh pit was in a frenzy.  When Hinata finally came upon his boyfriend, he made sure Yuuji’s back was to him and waited for just the right moment to strike.  The opportunity came as a break in the crowd.  Hinata moved fast, shoving his startled boyfriend straight into the path of a female mosher that Hinata had seen earlier, who was obviously only there to throw punches and create trouble.  He felt absolutely no regret at the new mottled bruise decorating his boyfriend’s ribs.  Payback and all that.

Sighing into the steam, he briefly lamented the fact that they were both so competitive.  At least his hip wasn’t actually _injured_ injured—just sore.  He pressed lightly on the bruise and hissed at the sensation.  It would only get worse before getting better.

Other, smaller, bruises also littered his arms and legs from hard volleyball practices.  He could play off the scrapes and some of the bruises as ones received from volleyball and it wouldn’t even be a lie as most of them actually _were_ from volleyball; but, the larger one on his hip and his side would be a bit harder to play off.  As Hinata finished his shower, he contemplated what the rest of his team would think if they ever saw those larger bruises—what they would say if they knew about this part of his life.

Turning off the water, he abandoned those thoughts and instead began to think about how Yuuji was just a room over and how he could actually cuddle him.

With this thought in mind, he hurriedly threw on a plain navy tank and a pair of black boxers decorated with meatbuns.

When he entered the room, the first thing he noticed was Yuuji sprawled across the bed.  By the way his eyes kept fluttering open and shut, he could tell his boyfriend was fighting a losing battle against sleep.

Upon noticing Hinata’s entrance, a lazy smile made its way across Yuuji’s face.   A murmured, “Hey, gorgeous” was all the incentive Hinata needed to join his boyfriend on the bed.

He lay down on top of his boyfriend, his head pillowed on Yuuji’s bare chest so he could hear the beating of his heart.  Two strong arms wrapped themselves around him, one hand caressing his lower back and the other tangled in his hair.  Hinata tightened his own hold on his boyfriend, briefly squeezing him closer because he didn’t have the proper words to express exactly how he was feeling.

The older boy didn’t say anything, just tightened his hold in response.

They laid like that in silence for an indeterminate amount of time, quietly enjoying the other’s presence.  It could have been minutes or hours when they finally started whispering to each other.  They were little nothings meant to make the night last longer.  Neither wanted to fall asleep and lose the chance to just be wrapped up in each other.

In the dark, they spoke softly.  Little trails of heat left where breath hit skin.  Terushima’s hand carded lightly through Hinata’s hair.  Hinata’s fingers drew sloppy designs against Terushima’s side.  Eventually, their breaths mingled until their lips met in a warm embrace.

It was sweet and unhurried.  They moved leisurely, slowly; each movement was treasured.  The swipe of a tongue was enough for Hinata to open his mouth, letting Yuuji swipe along his own.  The drag of tongue and lips made Hinata moan in pleasure and press back with more need.

He pulled away only to place his mouth on Yuuji’s neck, just under his jaw.  He took his time savoring the taste of his skin.  He nibbled and licked in turn, working his way to Yuuji’s ear.  Each movement elicited a breathy sigh from his boyfriend, whose hands were under his shirt stroking his back.

He lightly nipped at Yuuji’s earlobe before slowly sucking it into his mouth and swirling lightly around the stud.  A low moan startled Hinata into stopping.  He looked at his boyfriend, eyes glazed and mouth parted.  A blush was splashed across his cheeks.

Before Hinata could react, a hand had left his back to card through his hair and pull him in for another kiss.  It was nothing as gentle or slow as before.  It held an edge to it, a frantic want that made their movements almost harsh in their intensity.

A quick twist and suddenly Yuuji was hovering above him.  Instead of moving immediately, Yuuji continued to stare, taking in everything.  His hand slowly came up to cup Hinata’s face, thumb stroking his cheek with a slight tremor.

He dipped in for a kiss, just a light press of lips, before moving to kiss every inch of Hinata’s face.  One last press of lips against lips had Yuuji pulling away once more.

This time, he sat back on Hinata’s thighs and stared at the ginger.

“Shou,” he broke the silence with a hesitant voice, “I really like you.  And it’s going to sound horribly cheesy, but every text and call and date just makes me like you more and more.  To the point where I think I might be in love with you.”  Hinata could feel his eyes getting wider and wider with each sentence.  “I know we haven’t been dating for long, so it’s crazy to feel this way so soon, but I had to say something or it would drive me insane.”

Hinata stared up at his boyfriend in stunned silence.

“You don’t have to say anything, Shou.  I just needed to say it.”  Yuuji by now was fiddling with his ear piercings in nervousness.

Hinata propped himself up.  “Yuuji,” he breathed in wonder.  “I feel the same way.”

Yuuji’s fidgeting stopped.  His amber eyes searched Hinata’s face.  Slowly, a gentle smile appeared and Hinata was pulled into Yuuji’s warm embrace.  A light kiss was pressed against his neck.  He reciprocated.

They stayed that way, wrapped in each other’s arms, for a long time.  Yuuji was the first to pull away.  His hands went to his left ear.  He worked at it before he came away with an earring.  It was a silver mermaid, like what you would find on the front of a ship.  Hinata found it cute that his boyfriend had so many earrings related to pirates.  Yuuji had shared one night that as a kid he had always wanted to be a pirate.  His obsession had never left.  Instead, as he got older, it had filtered into pirate movies, books, artwork, and many other things, including body jewelry.

Holding out the earring, Yuuji looked at Hinata, and said, “This is going to sound even cheesier, but I don’t care.  I really like you.  And I don’t want to lose you.  So this earring is going to be a promise to see each other.  I’ll want this half back next time.”  He took the mermaid earring and placed it in Hinata’s hand.  “Man, this is so sweet I want to barf.  And I’m the one saying it.”  Hinata couldn’t remember ever seeing Yuuji’s face this red before.

He clutched the earring tight.  Without saying a word, he slowly undid one of his own earrings to replace it with the mermaid.  The earring he took out, a tiny black guitar pick with “music is life” written on it in white, was placed in Yuuji’s palm.  “If it’s a promise, then you need one of mine.”

Yuuji broke into a grin and quickly put in the earring.

They both laid down embracing one another, sharing kisses every few moments.  Neither said a word, sharing a comfortable silence tangled in one another.

They lay this way until they both drifted to sleep.

 

* * *

 

A sharp shaking woke Hinata from a deep sleep.  He was in no way happy to be woken in such a fashion and was ready to release his full fury.  That is, he would have if not for the fact that his boyfriend’s anxious face was hovering above his own.

“Shou, you need to wake up.”  Yuuji’s voice was rough from sleep.  Hinata couldn’t help but think in his morning haze that it was really sexy and he wanted to hear more of it.  “Seriously, Shou, you need to wake up.  You have morning practice, right?”

It took a few minutes for the words to register in his mind, but when they did he shot up wide awake.  “What?”

“My alarm didn’t go off.  You need to wake up now if you want to make it to practice at all.”  Hinata promptly cussed and rushed to get ready.

As he ran back into the bedroom completely dressed and ready to go, he stopped for a brief moment to stare at his dozing boyfriend’s rumpled form.  His hair was pushed at odd angles in the back and clumped in the front.  His torso had red lines from where bed sheets and Hinata’s shirt had pressed into his skin during the night.  One pant leg was pushed up past his knee.  Hinata thought he looked adorable.  In this rare instance, he had his phone at the ready and took a quick picture.

Walking up to his boyfriend to shake him awake, he whispered softly, “Wake up, Yuuji.  I need to go.”  Once his boyfriend lifted his head, Hinata gave him a kiss.  “Have a good morning.  I’ll text you later.”  Hinata paused a moment and considered saying “I love you.”  Neither had really admitted to actually being in love with each other just yet.  It was only a “might,” a possibility.  He decided to compromise.  Hinata kissed his forehead once more and murmured, “Might love you.”  He hurriedly grabbed his bag and walked out of the bedroom before he could hear a response or regret anything.

As he walked through the house, he could hear the murmuring of what had to be Yuuji’s parents.  Deciding that just walking out would be rude, Hinata made his way toward the voices.  Upon entering the kitchen, he cleared his throat.  Haya and the as yet unnamed man turned toward the interruption.  The man had dark brown hair gelled back against his head and striking green eyes.  He was dressed in a dark charcoal suit.  In contrast, Haya was in a pale green robe and her white slippers with her long hair in messy clumps.  They both had the same sleepy stare focused on him. “I just wanted to say thank you for letting me stay.  And have a good morning.”

He made to leave right after, but the man’s voice made him pause.  “Hinata-kun, would you like a ride?”

Although the offer was tempting, he didn’t want to impose.  “Thank you for the offer, but I have my bi—“

“I insist.”

The man’s tone left no room for argument.

Hinata shortly found himself in the passenger seat of a car with his bike wedged into the back.  It was an awkward silence; at least, Hinata felt it was awkward.  The man next to him, whose name was Mamoru, was all sharp edges—Hinata couldn’t help but think Yuuji got his jaw from his father.  His posture had slowly changed from bent and tired (shaking off the last dregs of sleep) to straight and unyielding.  His overall presence was now a bit stifling if Hinata was being honest.

Just when Hinata started zoning out, Mamoru spoke.  “Hinata.  I apologize I was unable to speak to you yesterday.  I was working overtime.  But, I wanted to say that you really make my son happy, which makes me happy.”

Hinata was stunned at such kind words.  “Thank you, sir.”

Mamoru did not look at Hinata nor change his inflection as he continued “I haven’t seen him this content in a while.  Please continue making him happy.”

Hinata smiled at Mamoru.  “I’ll try my hardest.  He makes me happy too.”  Despite the stone face, Hinata caught a small twitch of lips.

The rest of the ride was spent in a comfortable silence.

As they pulled up to Karasuno, Hinata turned to Mamoru.  “Thank you for the ride.”

Mamoru just waved him off.  “It was a pleasure.  Nice to meet you, Hinata.”

“You too.  And you can call me Shouyou.”

“Then it was nice to meet you, Shouyou.”

Hinata grabbed his bike and bags, and took off towards the gym.

Hinata quick checked his phone and cursed at the time.  He was definitely late.  Practice had already started.  However, thanks to Mamoru, he was only twelve minutes late.  This meant that the team had finished setting up the equipment and had just begun warmups.  Hinata quietly sent out another mental thanks to Yuuji’s father for the ride—he would have been far later if he had biked to school.

After locking his bike, he ran up to the club room so he could change into more appropriate gear.

Rummaging through his bag, he couldn’t help but feel bad for both arriving late to practice and for leaving Yuuji so early in the morning.  If he could be in two places at once, he definitely would.

One of him would have been responsible.  He would have woken up on time and gone to practice like usual.  He would have been there for setup, griping along with Tanaka and shouting with Noya.  He would have bugged Kageyama to toss to him enough times that even Tsukishima would have yelled at Kageyama to just humor him.  And Daichi would have been proud of him for responsibly showing up on time after a late night, like he promised.

The other him would still be snuggled up close to Yuuji.  He would have slowly woken up in his boyfriend’s arms.  They would have stayed like that until the sun was too high in the sky to ignore.  They would have shared gross morning breath kisses and shoved each other playfully as they shuffled into the kitchen for breakfast.  Breakfast would have been a shared effort as Haya sipped her coffee at the table.  And after clean up, they would have drawn out the farewell until they absolutely had to part.

Hinata sighed in frustration.  He couldn’t have the best of both worlds.  Life didn’t work like that.  But he had to admit that for the first time, he was regretting choosing volleyball over his boyfriend.  He knew it was a short-lived feeling, but he couldn’t deny it.

As he finished knotting his shoes, he shoved those thoughts to the back of his head for later examination.  It was time for volleyball.

Quickly running out the door, he scratched at his nose, vaguely registering the tugging sensation that came with snagging his nose ring.  It was dismissed at the thought of wondering how many times he would have to bug Kageyama before he relented and tossed to him.


	4. Chapter 4

As Hinata ran to the gym, he could hear the loud shouting and laughter as his teammates practiced.  He knew he was going to be in trouble with Daichi for missing the start of practice when he had explicitly asked him to be ready to practice hard today.  While he felt bad for his tardiness, he didn’t feel any regret for the few extra moments that he got to spend in the arms of his boyfriend.

That thought was enough to make his smile even larger than normal as he opened the door to the gym.  “Sorry I’m late!”

“Hinata!  We were worried about you.  Get to stretching and—What the—,” Daichi’s voice had tapered into a strangled screech at the end, confusing Hinata.  Maybe the third year had been surprised he was so late.  He knew he probably looked a mess on top of everything.  That had to be it.

Shrugging to himself, Hinata saluted.  “I’ll get right to it, captain!”  Daichi didn’t even respond, seeming to be stuck in a slack-jawed stupor, which was honestly freaking out Hinata.  Passing his teammates, Hinata noticed they all had similarly shocked expressions.

The gym was suddenly very quiet and very unnerving.

Hinata stopped his trek, warily catching his teammates eyes.  Something was clearly off.  And it had to do with him.  Unable to take it any longer, he blurted out, “What?”  That one word rang out like a gun shot, startling his teammates into action.  Before Hinata knew what was happening, he was surrounded.

“Holy fuck!  Holyfuckholyfu—! ”

“Bwaaaaaah!  Hinata!  What has happened to my cute kouhai?!”

“I-Is he okay?”

The concerned and disbelieving voices only served to confuse Hinata more.  What were they talking about?  Deciding that the only rational explanation would come from one place, Hinata stared expectantly at Kageyama.

The stone-faced setter scrunched up his face in confusion, and asked quite eloquently, “What’s with your face?”

Hinata pondered what he meant for a moment, recounting last night’s events.  He hadn’t been hit in the face at all last night, at least not enough to bruise anyway.  Maybe he had toothpaste on his face.  This morning he hadn’t had a chance to really wash up because he was rushing.  Though, he was pretty sure Yuuji’s parents would have said something if that were true.

Running out of patience, he threw his arms up in frustration.  “Gah!  I give up!  What is wrong with my face?”  He made sure to look everyone in the eye, demanding answers. No one twitched, frozen by the intense stare.

Kageyama, however, once again came to his rescue.  He huffed in frustration, stepped forward, and flicked the small decoy’s eyebrow.  Hinata squawked at the action, ready to fight the ornery setter, only to freeze as the action fully registered.  The flick didn’t feel right.  _Oh shit._

“Uhhh.  I have some explaining to do, don’t I?”

The resounding affirmation made Hinata internally sigh, resigning himself to a fate that he hadn’t really wanted to face just yet.  He knew he was hiding some things out of fear that his team would treat him differently.  He hadn’t wanted to bring up his piercings, his boyfriend, or his moshing just yet because, as much as those things made him happy, he knew some people had trouble accepting things outside the expected norm.

Simply put, he was afraid the things he loved would not be accepted by the team—that _he_ would not be accepted by the team.

Thinking that way, however, caused a voice of reason (that sounded suspiciously like his boyfriend) to shout at him that he was being irrational.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Hinata made a decision.  He would answer their questions.  _If_ they reacted favorably to his piercings, he would stop actively hiding things.  He wouldn’t be spilling his life story at the drop of a hat, but he would answer their probing questions honestly.  Respect deserved to be answered with respect.

If they didn’t react favorably…. Honestly, Hinata didn’t know what he would do if that happened.  He hoped he wouldn’t have to find out.

Looking at the faces of his team, though, Hinata didn’t know how to start.  “So, uhh, I have piercings.  Surprise?  Um, I don’t know what you want me to say, honestly.”

Daichi was the first one to speak, ever the leader.  “Why haven’t we found out before now?”

“My middle school was stricter about body jewelry, so it just became habit not to wear many to school.  And it’s safer just to leave them out during practice.”  His team nodded in understanding, bland expressions on their faces as they most likely thought of the various times he was hit in the face.

Sugawara’s expression was one of open curiosity as asked, “Wouldn’t we have noticed the holes?”

Hinata ruffled his hair, responding, “Some of them are pretty small, so it’s hard to tell.  The most noticeable ones are covered by my hair.  There’s also clear jewelry I can wear if I need to.”  Hinata shrugged as he finished, “Most people don’t really look for them, so it’s not an issue.”

It was quiet for a few moments when Asahi quietly asked, “Did they hurt?”

Hinata couldn’t help but laugh at the question.  “Yeah, some of them did.  I think the worst was the eyebrow piercing.  But, honestly, they weren’t too bad.”

It was quiet while Hinata waited for another question.

“So,” Nishinoya started, breaking the silence, “why didn’t you let _us_ know?”

“Yeah,” Tanka chimed in, sounding confused, “What’s the deal?”

Hinata had been hoping they wouldn’t ask that question.  He didn’t want to admit his insecurities.  But, seeing their hurt faces, he knew he had to.  “I care about what you guys think.  After the kids in middle school found out I had piercings—not as many as today of course—some of them started treating me differently.  I love being on this team and didn’t want that to happen with you.”

Without warning, Hinata found himself suffocating.  Almost the entire team had him wrapped up in a huge group hug—Tsukishima and Kageyama being the two exceptions until Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita forcefully dragged them into it.

Eventually, the hug ended, but no one went far—preferring to stay in a half-formed huddle.  A comforting hand on Hinata’s shoulder made him turn around, following the arm to the face of his captain.  Daichi gave him a reassuring smile.  “I told you yesterday, we’re here for you no matter what.”  The rest of the team chimed in, agreeing with their captain.

Hinata didn’t know how to respond.  He was just so happy that they had accepted him the same way Izumi, Kouji, Yuuji, and his mother had.  They were curious, sure, but they didn’t care.  They hadn’t judged him.  The optimistic part of him was ecstatic and had faith that they would also accept the other parts of him.  The pessimistic part was still a bit wary, but he pushed that part back in favor of savoring the moment.

Hinata just took it all in until Daichi called the team to attention with a loud clap of hands.  “Okay, team!  We’ve had enough excitement for this morning.  Let’s get back to practice!  I want you to take turns serving and receiving.  Get to it.”

Hinata had a sense of déjà vu as he walked up to Daichi while everyone else started practicing.  “Hey, Daichi.  I’m gonna head back to the clubroom to take these out.”  The third-year captain smiled and nodded towards the door.  Hinata grinned in response and took off.  The faster he could get to practicing, the better.

Digging in his bag at the clubroom, however, he was met with disappointment.  Apparently, in his rush to leave the Terushima household, he had forgotten his jewelry carrying case along with a few other odds and ends.  He would take out his jewelry and leave them in his bag or a pocket, but doing that more often than not had caused him to lose said jewelry.  He would rather not have that happen considering he was wearing some important pieces.

Groaning, Hinata slumped in defeat and made his way back to the gym.

He made his way to Daichi once more.  “Hey, cap’n,” he interrupted, “I need to ask you something.”  Once he had Daichi’s attention, he continued, “Do you have a bag or something I can safely put my jewelry in?”

Daichi took a moment to consider before turning an apologetic smile to Hinata.  “I’m sorry, Hinata, but I don’t think I have anything.  Can you put them in your gym bag or something?”

At Hinata’s head shake in the negative, Daichi yelled out if anyone on the team had something Hinata could use.  At the resounding no, Daichi sighed.  “I guess you’ll just have to wear them, Hinata.  Sorry.”

“No worries.  I’ll just be extra careful at practice.”

And he was.  His face was only grazed once when it was his turn to receive.  Thankfully.

When Daichi finally called practice to an end, Hinata was exhausted but happy.  His teammates had been alright with his body jewelry.  They hadn’t ridiculed him; although, Tsukki had made a few sarcastic comments, but it would’ve been weirder for him to have not done so.  They hadn’t even been too invasive with their questions.

It was a good morning.

Leaving the gym surrounded by his teammates, Hinata couldn’t help but smile wide.

 

* * *

 

“Yuuji, you will never guess what happened today,” Hinata groaned into his phone, hoping that his utter exhaustion could be felt all the way through the line.

Tinny laughter echoing out of the speaker was answer enough.  Yuuji could definitely feel the exhaustion and felt absolutely nothing—the traitor.  “Maybe you should have skipped the day like I did.”

“If only.  It would have been simpler.  But, I’m kind of really glad I did go.”  Hinata flipped onto his back, trying to get more comfortable on his bed.

“Oh?”  Hinata could hear Yuuji’s curiosity in that one simple syllable.  “What happened?”

Hinata had to think for a moment about how to even phrase it.  It felt like so much had happened when in reality it was a simple thing.  He hummed for a moment and said, “Well, the team found out about my piercings.”  Yuuji remained quiet, knowing that there was more to come.  “I guess I forgot to take them out this morning in my rush.  You know, I was worried that they would treat me differently, but they didn’t.  It was kinda like with my mom.  I was so worried, but then… I heard your voice in my head encouraging me.”  Hinata couldn’t help the sappy smile on his face.  The tiny, amazed chuckle through the speaker just made his smile grow.  “So, once again, thank you.”

“You know, Shou,” Yuuji’s voice was soft and a little teasing, “some people would say hearing voices makes you crazy.  You must be a special kind of crazy, though, to thank the voice.”

“Oh, shut up, you ass,” Hinata laughed into the phone.  “I’m trying to be sweet here.”

“Yeah, yeah.  You’re welcome, my crazy voice-thanking boyfriend.”

“Wow.  Such a sweet talker.  Woo me some more,” the sarcasm was thick enough that Hinata could practically feel it dripping from his tongue down through the phone.

“You bet your sexy ass I will.”

“Off to a great start,” Hinata quipped.

“You love it.”

“…Maybe I do.”

They enjoyed the silence for a few moments.

“So, Shou,” Yuuji started.  “I didn’t know you were worried about your teammates finding out about your piercings.”

“Well, middle school wasn’t the kindest when my classmates saw me like that.  I lost a few friends.  I didn’t want the same thing to happen with my team.  I was afraid the dynamic would change.”

“And it didn’t.”

“It didn’t.”

Yuuji hummed in thought.  “I’m going to assume that you haven’t told them about me then?”

Hinata was quick to reassure his boyfriend.  “No, I haven’t, but it’s not like I’m ashamed or anything!  I swear.  And I’m not hiding it on purpose or anything!”

“I’m not upset, Shou,” Yuuji’s voice was soft and assuring.  “I was just wondering if you’re as worried about your team’s reaction to your sexuality as you were about your mom’s.  I understand if you’re reluctant to tell them.”

“Like I said, I’m not hiding it or anything.  I decided that if the team asks, I’ll tell them the truth.  But not until that point.  To be honest, I’m actually more worried about how they’ll react to you being on a rival team more than I’m worried about them freaking out over my sexuality.”

Yuuji’s laugh was loud, echoing Hinata’s soft chuckles.  “Oh man, tell me about it.  Bobata and Futamata are still on my case about fraternizing with the enemy,” an unattractive snort accompanied that statement.  “I agree.  Save yourself the trouble.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”  It was then Hinata remembered something important, “Oh!  That reminds me!  I left some things at your place.  Like my jewelry case—I had to practice with everything in.  I think I left a hoodie too.  Possibly some other things?”

There was some shuffling around on Yuuji’s end.  The sound of things falling or being thrown was heard along with a bit of cursing.  After a few more minutes of those sounds, Yuuji finally picked up the phone again.  “Yeah, I found your case.  A tank top.  A tube of toothpaste that I think is yours—I hope is yours anyway.  Aaaaand a coldrain hoodie.  When’d you get this?  I’m totally stealing it.”

Hinata let out a squawk.  “No way!  You’re definitely giving that back next time.”

Yuuji huffed.  “We’ll see.”  Hinata grumbled a bit.  “So, Shou.  You said you had your piercings in during practice?”  Yuuji continued after an affirmative sound from Hinata, “How’d that go?”

Hinata could practically hear the grimace through the phone.  They could both relate to the pain of getting hit in the face with piercings in.  “I was careful.  Receiving was sketchy, but everything turned out alright.”

“Nice.  That’s an accomplishment, especially coming from you.”

“Hey!”

“It’s true!”

“…I’m getting better.”  Hinata could hear Yuuji trying to muffle his laughter.  It wasn’t working.  Huffing, he asked, “Are you done yet?”

“Y-Yeah, yeah.  I’m sure you’re getting better, Shou.  You have a lot of potential.”  Yuuji’s genuine admittance warmed Hinata.  Yuuji hummed in thought before speaking.  “I gotta ask though, do you think you’re going to start wearing your earrings and stuff to school now?” 

“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it.”

“I’d take advantage of it, Shou.  If my school had less rules about body modifications, I’d always wear mine.  I can just barely get away with the tongue ring and studs as it is.”

“You know,” Hinata mused, “for a school labelled as _the_ party school, you’d think they’d be less strict about these things.”

“It’s actually just our team that’s called that.  Not the school.  The school is actually pretty strict.  Like, our team motto used to be ‘simplicity and fortitude’—with that kind of motto, it’s not all that surprising.”  Yuuji huffed.  “Ah well.  I liked their volleyball team.  It was worth it.”

“I know what you mean.”  Hinata thought about his own team and how he had to give up going to high school with his best friends so he could join Karasuno’s team.  “So now it’s my turn to ask you how your day was.  Though I have a feeling it’s not as exciting as mine.”

“Hey!  My day was plenty exciting.  I slept until one.  Watched a few shows.  Ate cereal.  It was stimulating.”

Hinata couldn’t help but laugh.  “I’m sure.”

As Yuuji regaled him with the rest of his “exciting” day, Hinata thought about how he was happy to have this guy’s voice in his head—his own personal voice of reason.

 

* * *

 

Monday came far too fast in Hinata’s opinion.

After the talk with his boyfriend, he had taken the time to really think about whether or not he wanted to wear his jewelry at school and had come to a decision.  Taking into consideration his team’s reassuring response, he felt confident enough to take the leap and bring them to school on Monday.  He was a little worried about his friends outside of the team, but had decided that whatever may come, may come.  As long as his most important people were fine with him the way he was, he didn’t have any reason to fear, or care for that matter, what others thought about him.

At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

The chatter of the team as they changed into their school uniforms didn’t really register as more than background noise as Hinata pulled out his jewelry case (old and worn compared to the one left at Yuuji’s).  Affixing each piece meticulously, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the possible reactions of his classmates—reactions that would determine how he would be treated for the next three years.

Ugh!  He was overthinking again.

As he set the last piece, he turned around to see the rest of the team staring at him.  He raised an eyebrow in question.  “What?”

“We’re still getting used to the new look is all,” Noya answered.

“It’s badass!” Tanaka chimed in.  “Still strange to see you look like that though.”

Hinata hummed in understanding.  Then what Tanaka said registered and he whooped in excitement.  “I do look pretty badass, don’t I?”

“What a laugh,” Tsukishima sneered as he grabbed his bag.  “A shrimp is still a shrimp no matter how you dress it up.”  Ignoring Hinata’s offended shouting, he proceeded to leave the clubroom.

“Wait up, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi, stumbling in his rush to follow, shouted after the retreating figure.  Before he rounded the doorway, he turned back to Hinata, sending him a reassuring smile.  “I’ll see you at lunch, Hinata.”  After he left, Hinata could hear the echoing calls for the tall blond to slow down.  A smile crept across his face at Yamaguchi’s small, but significant gesture.

Finally feeling calm, Hinata set off with the rest of the team as they left the clubroom for class.

Being surrounded by his team definitely lessened his awareness of the strange looks he received.  It didn’t eliminate his awareness of them, but it helped him feel better about his decision.  If nothing else, he had his team and that’s all that mattered.

Feeling comfortable enough to join in with the chatter, Hinata spent the rest of the walk in companionable laughter and ribbing.

“See you at practice.”  Waving at the few members left making the trek to their class, Hinata entered his classroom.  Most everyone was busy talking to their friends, so he was relatively unnoticed as he made his way to his desk.

It was as he sat down, though, that someone finally noticed his new look with a soft exclamation of disbelief that was cut off by the teacher calling everyone to attention.

As class continued, he could hear the whispers as the news spread.  He just knew he was going to be surrounded at lunch.

And just as he thought, the call for lunch had him surrounded by friends and curious classmates alike.  They had closed ranks around his desk before he could leave to meet with Yamaguchi, asking questions and talking over each other.  Hinata honestly couldn’t understand a word.

As he was looking for an escape route, he saw one of his female classmates approaching him.  If he remembered correctly, the long black hair and Brunswick green eyes belonged to Harada Tomose—no, Tomoko.  He was a bit sketchy on the name since he had only talked to her a few times before thanks to group projects and a mutual love of sports.

When she got close enough, she said, “Hinata-san.  Yamaguchi-san is waiting for you.”  At his curious look, she shrugged, explaining, “He asked if I could get you since it’s a bit hectic in here.”

“Ah! Thanks for the help, Harada!”  He was thankful for the excuse since his friends and classmates were being a bit overbearing at the moment.  Things should calm down by the end of the day anyway.  Plus, he was hungry.  Standing up, he excused himself.

Just as he was passing Harada, she stopped him with a hand on his arm.  She smiled at him, saying, “By the way, Hinata-san, I like your earrings.”

The admission made him happy.  Smiling in turn, Hinata replied, “Thanks.  I’ve always admired yours.”

When he finally reached Yamaguchi, Hinata sighed in relief.  Yamaguchi gave him a questioning look, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m hungry,” Hinata loudly declared.  “Let’s go.”  He grabbed the taller boy’s arm, dragging him along.  Yamaguchi’s echoing laugh was a wonderful sound after the cacophony he left behind in the classroom.

Lunch with Yamaguchi was really relaxing as he didn’t press Hinata about his choice to wear his jewelry to school or how his classmates were handling it.  Instead, they talked about the team and how they wanted to improve, how their classes were going, and other little things that served to make both of them laugh.

This was what Hinata liked about Yamaguchi.  He went with the flow and knew how to listen.  For the most part anyway.  He still had an annoying tic when it came to Tsukishima, but even that was mellowing out as time passed.

Actually, Hinata got the impression that everyone was working through their own issues.  It was more apparent in Asahi and Kageyama, but even Ennoshita and Yamaguchi, who appeared to have it together, seemed to be working through their own demons.

Hinata couldn’t say he knew a lot about Yamaguchi—yet.  But, there was definitely a feeling that he was changing, and for the better.

Like himself.

Thinking of how Yamaguchi had been there for him today when he was feeling overwhelmed and unsure, Hinata turned to his friend and blurted out, “You know, I’m here if you ever need to talk about anything.”

Wide, startled eyes stared back at him.  Yamaguchi seemed to be thinking extra hard, probably trying to figure out how they got from talking about silly cat videos to Hinata’s outburst.  After a moment more of silent contemplation, Yamaguchi rubbed at his nose in embarrassment and said, “Yeah, I know.  Thanks, Hinata.”

Hinata grinned in happiness.

“Hey, we should get back to class,” Yamaguchi said, packing up his bento.

“Gwah!  Already?”  As Hinata stuffed the last bit of his lunch in his mouth, Yamaguchi snickered.

Making their way back to their respective classrooms, Hinata felt that the rest of his day would be great.

And it was.  The whispering had slowed down like he hoped it would.  And best of all, none of his friends or classmates had treated him differently.  They seemed to have accepted his appearance, even if there were still a few odd and curious looks sent his way.

All in all, Hinata had never felt so content while in school.

Even as the final bell rang, Hinata’s good mood hadn’t faded.

After gathering his books into his backpack, he walked out of the classroom to wait by the door for Kageyama.  Looking down the hall for the setter, he wasn’t expecting a tap on his shoulder.

Shrieking in surprise, Hinata whipped around to see the laughing faces of Harada and four other girls.  And, oh crap.  They were pretty.  Hinata may be gay, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t admire, and be intimidated by, the female figure.  And in that moment, he decided that being approached by five cute girls was very intimidating.

Blushing and stuttering, Hinata managed to squeak out, “H-Harada.  Did you n-need something?”

Harada shook her head no.  “Not particularly.  But, I was wondering—would you like to join us for lunch tomorrow?”  At Hinata’s confused expression, she continued, “We haven’t talked in a while.  I thought it would be nice to catch up.  I also have to admit that we are all a bit curious about your new look.”  She seemed a little embarrassed at the admission.  Her friends didn’t seem to share in her embarrassment as they were too interested in talking to each other and sending Hinata inquisitive looks.

Hinata knew he would be getting this kind of attention as his appearance wasn’t exactly prevalent in this area.  So, for Harada and her friends to politely ask him to lunch instead of overwhelming him like others in his class had was nice.  Not to mention that he had a decent relationship with Harada.  He wouldn’t term them friends as they had only really bonded over their respective sports—volleyball and soccer—and a few projects, but, he honestly wouldn’t mind that relationship changing for the better.  And Harada’s friends didn’t seem too bad either—their staring was a bit intimidating, but it wasn’t necessarily judgmental.

Looking at Harada’s hopeful face, Hinata mentally shrugged and figured why not.  “That sounds nice, Harada.  I’d like to join you tomorrow.”

At Hinata’s announcement, Harada and her friends smiled.  “We’ll be looking forward to it, Hinata-san,” Harada said, looking genuinely excited.

It was that moment that Kageyama decided to finally show his face.  He stared blandly at Hinata, taking a long drink from his milk carton, and simply stated, “Let’s go.”  The ornery setter gave one questioning look to the group of girls surrounding Hinata and then started on his way to the clubroom.

Hinata, seeing that Kageyama was leaving him behind, shouted, “Don’t just walk away, Bakayama!”  He turned to the girls, said, “See you tomorrow,” and then ran after the setter.

 

* * *

 

The next day, practice had gone the same as before.  His teammates were slowly, but surely getting used to his new look.  Tanaka and Noya had even started picking his brain about possible piercings they were considering—he still wasn’t sure if they were serious about it.  And Asahi now only _slightly_ flinched at seeing him attach the various pieces.

The students in the hallways were a different story.  The majority didn’t even spare him a glance, but there were some who held varying degrees of disgust and curiosity as Hinata passed.  Hinata, however, didn’t even let those looks phase him.  Yesterday had shown him that he was accepted by those he cared about and his classmates.  He figured that the rest just didn’t matter.

His classmates had mellowed out, much like his teammates.  There were still a few occasional looks from a few people, but it seemed that everyone had gotten over their curiosity the previous day.

Overall, things had mostly gone back to normal.  And Hinata was once again surprised at how much he had overestimated people’s reactions.  He knew that his experience from middle school was still coloring most of his expectations, but it was hard to overcome when it had been so prevalent.

He just had to keep reminding himself that things were better here and sooner or later, he wouldn’t have to remind himself at all.

This was only confirmed as they were dismissed for lunch and Hinata wasn’t swarmed with overbearing classmates.  Instead, he was greeted with the smiling face of Harada.

“Ready for lunch, Hinata-san?”

Hinata simply nodded and grabbed his bento.  “Lead the way, Harada.”

It turned out that they were only going a few classrooms down to meet with Harada’s friends.  The same four girls had already set desks together and were unpacking their own lunches when they arrived.  Two seats were clearly left open for Hinata and Harada.

The brunette with short, choppy hair had noticed them arrive and happily waved them over.  “Harada!”

Harada gave a small wave as she took her place next to the chipper girl.  “Hello, Kurihara-san.”

The girl snorted in response, waving her chopsticks around as she blandly asked, “Will you ever drop the ‘-san’?”

Muffled chuckling came from the girl sitting next to Kurihara.  Her long, light brown hair was covering her face as she laughed.  “Probably not,” she said in amusement.  “I’ve known her since middle school and she still insists on it.”  Then, she turned her gaze to Hinata, who had yet to sit down.  “Ah, sorry about that.  Old argument.  Why don’t you sit down?  We don’t bite.”

Hinata smiled, grateful for her offer, and sat down.  “Thanks…,” He trailed off, not knowing her name.

“Araya,” she offered, amusement still flickering in her eyes.  “Araya Yuzuha.”

“Then, thanks, Araya.  My name’s Hinata Shouyou.  Thank you for inviting to me join you today.”  As much as he let manners slide, he felt compelled to make a good impression with this group.

Harada shot him an alarmed look before quickly bowing.  “I’m so sorry, Hinata-san!  I didn’t even introduce everyone.”  The next few moments had Hinata frantically trying to remember everyone’s name as they introduced themselves.  There was Kurihara Satomo (the choppy haired brunette), Araya Yuzuha (the amused one with long, light brown hair), Shirai Runa (who had a shy smile and blond hair pulled into a ponytail), Murata Emiko (who sported an eternally bland expression—Araya’s description, not his—and short black hair), and finally Harada Tomoko (who had a vaguely embarrassed expression throughout everyone’s introduction).

After introductions, the girls began speaking amongst themselves as Hinata unpacked his bento.  It was kind of nice just to listen to their chatter without joining in.  Hinata hadn’t had many female friends before, so he tended to struggle when it came to speaking to them.  He only had a handful of examples of how women worked, so it was no wonder he was always found them a bit intimidating.

But just listening to these five girls talk, he came to realize they weren’t so different from his own friends.  Sure, there was a bit more gossip about dating couples and things related to fashion and hair, but none of it was as otherworldly as he had come to expect.

He was so absorbed just listening that he almost didn’t catch when one of the girls, Kurihara, asked him a question.  Turning to the expectant look on her face, he couldn’t help his puzzled response, “Uhh, what?”

As the girls adapted amused expressions, Kurihara repeated her question, “We were wondering about your piercings.”  The rest of the girls nodded, showing they were just as curious as their friend.

Hinata shrugged and gave them the same basic rundown as he had given his team:  He started getting piercings in middle school; he tended not to wear them due to volleyball and his middle school having stricter rules than Karasuno; and the embarrassing reason why he had started wearing them around school.

Murata gave him an unimpressed look by the end, “So, you only started wearing them again because you accidentally wore them to a practice and figured what the hell?”  Shirai looked offended on behalf of Hinata and smacked her friend’s arm in chastisement.

Hinata shook his head in part amusement and part embarrassment as he admitted, “Kind of.”  Murata shot a victorious look at Shirai, who ignored her.  “Part of it was my team finding out.  Their acceptance was inspiring.  But, mostly it’s thanks to my boyfriend.”

As the girls’ eyes got wide, Hinata realized what he’d slipped and admitted.  He hadn’t meant to say anything about Yuuji just yet.  Honestly, though, he was just stating the truth.  The largest push _had_ come from his boyfriend.

He mentally sighed in resignation at his own slip, and reminded himself that he had decided not to lie about these things, come what may.

Looking at the girls, he wasn’t surprised to see them all staring at him in a wordless prompt to continue.  “Yuuji was the one that gave me the push needed to wear them.”

The following silence wasn’t tense, but it was somewhere around the realm of uncomfortable as Hinata waited for some kind of response.  He didn’t know these girls well enough just yet to know how they would react.

Harada was thankfully the one to break the silence first by timidly asking, “You have a boyfriend, Hinata-san?”

“Mmhm.  He’s kind of an asshole and super competitive, but he’s also really supportive and kind of a closet romantic.”  The five girls’ faces softened as he continued to describe him and how much they cared for each other.  However, Hinata noticed Harada’s expression was bittersweet and he couldn’t quite understand why.

Shirai sighed dreamily as she asked Hinata how long they’ve been together.

Hinata had to think about it because it felt like they’ve been together for long time, but counting it out, it was much shorter.  “Hmm.  About two months now,” he admitted.  “But, it really feels like longer than that.”

“That’s so sweet, Hinata,” Shirai stated.

“Yeah.  I just wish we got to see each other more often though.  The distance isn’t fun.”

“But,” Araya questioned, looking confused at the admission, “you have weekends and weeknights that you can see each other.”

Hinata couldn’t help his face scrunching up in frustration.  “We would, but both of us have volleyball practice.  That takes up most of our free time.”

“So,” Harada hesitantly started, “you don’t go on dates, Hinata-san?  How does a relationship like that work if you don’t mind my asking?”

“We _do_ go on dates,” he assured her.  “We’ve had two dates so far, but mostly we call, text, and skype.”  At the sad looks some of the girls held, he was quick to add, “But!  But it’s not bad.  It’s really worth it.  Our last date, he did this really cheesy thing that was super sweet.  Since we don’t see each other often, he wanted to make a formal promise that we would see each other soon.  So, he gave me one of his earrings as a promise, and I gave him one of mine.”  Fingering the mermaid earring that he still wore, he could feel the blush on his ears, and most likely dusting his cheeks as well.

“That is the single most disgustingly corny thing I have ever heard,” Murata blandly stated, though her blushing cheeks spoke of her true thoughts on the matter.

Hinata couldn’t help but laugh, the other girls joining in.  They all echoed Murata’s sentiments, but added how sweet they thought it was and how jealous some of them were.

“Oooh!” Kurihara exclaimed in excitement.  “I have a great idea!”  At the group’s questioning gaze, she asked, “Why don’t we all trade earrings?”

Harada seemed interested.  “It sounds like fun, Kurihara-san.”  At Harada’s admission, the rest of the girls followed suit.

Hinata was started as they all turned their expectant gazes on him.  “What?”

“Are you going to join us, Hinata-san,” Harada questioned.

“Yeah, come on.  It’ll be more fun with you,” Araya added.

“But—“ Hinata started and stopped.  He took a minute to really think about it.  These girls were really nice, inviting him to their lunch even knowing nothing about him outside of what they had learned from Harada.  They hadn’t reacted badly to his appearance or the fact that he was dating a guy.  And he had honestly had a lot fun with them.  What was really holding him back from agreeing?  Meeting each of their gazes once more, he realized how much the idea really did sound like fun.  Plus, it would give him a reason to talk to them more, really get to know them, make them real friends.  Grinning wide, Hinata answered.  “Sure.”

The little time they had left for lunch was spent discussing ground rules and schedules for their earring exchange.  Hinata didn’t think he had ever had as much fun during a lunch as he had with those five girls.

When it finally came time to head back to class, Hinata and Harada were both adorned with satisfied smiles and a new earring each.

 

* * *

 

“Yuuuuuuji,” Hinata whined into the phone that night.  “Aren’t you worried you might be replaced?  My ears will no longer belong to only you.”  Howling laughter immediately followed.  Hinata had to hold the phone away from his ears because it was so loud.

“Shou, babe, I am just ever so worried that your ears will be stolen from me.  Whatever will I do?  How will I cope?”  The deadpan voice was the icing on the sarcastic cake.

“D-Did you just call me ‘babe’?”

“Yeah.”

“No.  No no no,” Hinata vehemently declared.  “I am not a girl.  I am not a baby.  There will be no more calling me babe.”

“I know you’re not a—“

“Then you’ll have no problem.”

Yuuji calmly said, “Ok then.”  There was a pause followed by a sly, “Honey.”

“Have I mentioned before that you are an asshole?  Because you are.”

“You may have said it once or twice.”

“Oh fuck off.”

“You secretly like it.”

Hinata _did_ secretly like it.  Yuuji knew how to ruffle his feathers without taking it too far.  He jabbed and poked at him, but never touched on his sore spots.  If it made any sense at all, he was considerate about being an ass.  He matched Hinata in that respect.  They both liked to poke and prod at people without pushing too hard.

Grudgingly, Hinata admitted, “Maybe I do.”

“Ha!  Knew it.”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Hinata waved him off, forgetting that his boyfriend couldn’t see the action.

Yuuji made a satisfied noise and then said, “In all seriousness though, I’m pretty proud of you, Shou.”  He didn’t state why, but Hinata didn’t need him to.  He knew exactly what Yuuji meant.  He was proud of how much Shou was beginning to open up more and let others accept him for who he was rather than hiding behind the security offered at concerts and home.  Yuuji knew about Hinata’s reasons for being so closed-lipped about the parts of himself that he had shared over the past two days, and he was admitting that he was proud of Hinata for taking the steps to overcoming those ingrained fears.

They both knew that it would take some time.  There was still a long way for Hinata to go before he could be completely free of his anxieties.

Their relationship still had a lot of growing to do too.  Hinata felt like Yuuji had done far more for him than Hinata had done for Yuuji, but that would come in time as well.  There would be plenty of opportunities for them to improve and help each other.  And they would grow from those opportunities.  He just knew it.

As things were right now, though, they were both content.


	5. Chapter 5

It was Monday June 3rd and Hinata couldn’t shake his bad mood.  Yesterday, he had been playing volleyball against Miyagi’s best.  But today, he was sitting in his classroom with nothing to show for all his hard work.  He was not playing against Shiratorizawa or Yuuji’s team or any other team for that matter.  Because they had lost.

Hinata, especially, had lost.  If not for his spike getting blocked, they could have gone on to win.  It was _his_ spike that lost them the game.  No matter what Kageyama said.  The toss was perfect; his spike was not.

Laying his head on his desk, Hinata closed his eyes as another round of guilt and defeat swept through him.  It was all his fault.

If he could just fight in the air on his own, then he could overcome that wall.  He needed to work harder, become stronger, fly higher, hit harder—he needed to get better.

It was just so frustrating.

Despite his resolve to be better, he knew that confronting Kageyama about it would probably not go as well as he hoped it would.  Kageyama usually needed more than a push to get him to change his ways—just look at what it took for him to start communicating with the team.

No, he would confront Kageyama some other time because now…now he just needed something to get some of this frustration and anger and disappointment out of his system.

As soon as he was released for lunch, he blew past his classmates on a single-minded mission to get to the gym.

Nearing the entrance, he could hear the distinctive sound of someone already practicing.  Hinata knew without a doubt that it was Kageyama.  They were too similar in that respect.  Hinata heaved a sigh.  He didn’t want to see Kageyama, the person he most let down, the person who apologized for tossing the ball to him, the person who felt just as terrible and frustrated as he did.

Despite not wanting to see Kageyama in this moment, he entered the gym anyway.  Volleyball was more important.

Standing in front of Kageyama, it was instinct to intercept the ball and toss it right back to him.  Going back and forth, hitting and receiving and tossing, it still wasn’t enough.  Why wasn’t it enough?  Why wasn’t it enough?!  As the ball struck his arm and flew off in the wrong direction, it was like his emotions were set to boil.  Hitting—because it couldn’t even be compared to spiking—the ball down hard against the ground, Hinata couldn’t help but finally explode, “Damnit!”

A guttural shout ripped out of him as he felt all of his terrible emotions overflowing.  There was nothing left to do but run and scream.  An echoing shout revealed that Kageyama was doing much the same.

It wasn’t until they had completely run themselves dry that Hinata found himself panting face down on the floor.  He was bone tired both emotionally and now physically.

Slowly, conviction began to take the place of his exhaustion, repressing his negative feelings—he knew they wouldn’t fully leave until he got to nationals and they _would_ make it to nationals.

“I want to win.”

It wasn’t a question.  It wasn’t a wish.  It was a declaration.  It was Hinata challenging fate.  He wanted to win.  And he was willing to bleed for it.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Shou.”  Yuuji’s voice was small, smaller than Hinata had ever heard it.

“Hey, Yuuji.”  Hinata couldn’t judge because his own voice was still rough from defeat.

Usually, their silences were comfortable.  This silence, though, was unbearable.

“So, congratulations on making the top four again,” Hinata said.  When no response came, he continued, “I’m not just saying that.  You got further than me.  I’m proud of you.”  Still, silence.  “I know it doesn’t help to hear that, but it’s true.”

His words were genuine.  As much as it hurt to congratulate Yuuji on his accomplishment where Hinata had failed, he really was proud of Yuuji.  He wouldn’t let his own petty feelings get in the way when it came to supporting his boyfriend.

Yuuji sighed.  “I—Th—Just—ugh.”  Yuuji sounded almost worse.  “Thanks.  But, I really, really don’t want to hear that right now.”

Hinata knew all too well.  But, he felt it necessary to say that while the older spiker was feeling so down.  Regardless, he would let the issue drop.  The pain of defeat was too fresh for both of them.

“So, the girls tried to cheer me up today before school,” Hinata began.  “They got their friends together for a big earring exchange.  Instead of the six of us, we had probably half of the first-year girls all exchanging earrings together.  It was kind of fun.  I ended up with this really cool lime green rose from Araya.  But, some of the girls wanted me to try theirs on for fun.  Like, one had me try on a diamond ear crawler.  And another tried to convince me a paperclip was an earring—it’s totally not.  And then there was this one girl who had me try on a super dangly pair with pink butterflies.  I kinda liked them.  But, she was strange.  Wanted to put makeup on me after she saw how I looked with them on.  Which, weird.  I may like jewelry, but that doesn’t mean I want to wear makeup.  Has that ever happened to you?”  When no response came, Hinata continued to prattle on about whatever came to mind, understanding that Yuuji would talk when he was ready.

It wasn’t much later when Hinata finally heard Yuuji respond beyond a few hums and grunts.

“Hey, Shou?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Welcome.”

“…Hey, Shou?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m officially jealous.”

“What?”

“Your ears no longer belong to only me.”  It took a moment for Hinata to understand what he meant, but when he did, he laughed.  It was a half-hearted complaint with no real energy behind it, but Hinata took it for what it was.  “Whatever will I do now?  First your ears.  Then your heart.”

Hinata couldn’t help but scoff.  “Clearly you need to establish I’m already taken.  You know,” Hinata assumed a teasing voice, “I hear that earring promises have an expiration date.”

“Hmm.  Well, a promise is a promise.”

“How about Saturday?  We’ll stay in at my place.  Movies and a blanket.  We’ll get takeout.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Shou.”  Hinata could finally hear a smile in his voice.  “Alright.  I’ll see you Saturday.”

“It’s a date.”

“You cheese.”

With that parting comment, Hinata said his goodbyes and hung up.  Although their call was tinged with sadness, they now had something to look forward to.

 

* * *

 

Hinata surprised everyone on Saturday when he left at the end of practice instead of begging and pleading to stay for just a little longer.  After waving off their concerns, he finally made his way toward home, biking with all his might to get there just a bit faster so he could see Yuuji just a bit sooner—he knew that wasn’t how it worked, but he could hope.

As much as he was driven to improve, he wanted to spend some time with Yuuji before the upcoming training camps, practice matches, and the Spring High Preliminaries got in their way.  After this weekend, there was no guarantee that they would be able to see each other until after the preliminaries.  Though, Hinata was sure they could find a way to make the time.

Mostly, Hinata just wanted to commiserate their losses together—sooth each other’s roughened edges.

Walking into the house, he couldn’t contain his excitement.  He ran to his mother to give her a big hug, which she reciprocated with a small laugh.

“Hwah!  I’m so excited!”

“Me too, firecracker,” she murmured into his hair.  “You’ve been so down lately I didn’t know what to do.  It’s nice to see you so excited again.”  Looking up at her quietly content face, Hinata felt bad for making her worry.

“Me too, mom.”

She released him slowly, and turned back to gathering her and Natsu’s things.  “Now, I have to go take your sister to her Lil’ Tykes Basketball practice.  If you don’t feel like making anything, there’s money on the fridge for takeout.  We’ll be back later tonight, so don’t get up to too much mischief.  And most importantly,” she said with fake stern voice, “have fun.  Love you, firecracker.”  She pressed a kiss to the top of his head and went to gather Natsu, who was struggling to find her other shoe.

As the door clicked shut, Hinata meandered to his room so he could shower and change.

It wasn’t much later that he was grabbing some blankets to throw on the couch when he heard a knock at the door.  Without a second thought, he tossed the blankets in a messy heap on the couch and ran for the door.  Yanking it open with enough force to leave a mark on the wall, Hinata stared at the image in front of him.  With the sun shining down on his hair, Yuuji seemed to shine brighter than ever.  Or maybe that was just Hinata being a huge sap who missed his boyfriend.

Without prompting, Hinata threw himself at Yuuji.  Their hug became more of a crash as Yuuji had thrown himself just as hard at Hinata.  The result was slightly painful, but much needed as they grabbed each other in an iron hold.

Reminding himself that he had his boyfriend to himself for most of the night, Hinata reluctantly eased himself out of the hug.  Taking Yuuji’s hand, he dragged the older boy into his house and toward the couch.  He intended for them to settle down and cuddle surrounded by soft blankets and squishy pillows, but a sharp pull on his arm had him flinging back to Yuuji who pulled him in for a short, sweet kiss.  Hinata couldn’t find it in himself to complain at the change of plans.

“Hi, Shou.”  A soft look adorned Yuuji’s face as he stared at Hinata, still gripping his hand.

“Hi, Yuuji.”  He squeezed Yuuji’s hand as he didn’t want to let go either.

“Missed you.”

“Missed you too.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Well, are you hungry?”

“Always.”

Hinata grinned.  “Why don’t we get something delivered and settle down for a movie?”

Yuuji looked amazed as he said, “You actually have people that deliver up here?”  Hinata nodded, vaguely amused.  “In the mountains?”  At his unimpressed look, Yuuji put his hands up in a placating gesture.  “Ok then.”

Hinata shook his head in fond exasperation.  “Alright.  Well, make yourself at home.  I’ll go dig up some menus.  Hungry for anything specific?”

As Hinata made his way to the kitchen, he heard Yuuji removing his shoes and dropping his bags.  “Nah,” Yuuji’s shout echoed through the house.  “I’m not picky.  Just pick something for me.”

Hinata read over the menus, unsure.  “You serious?” he shouted back.  The affirmation that followed had him rolling his eyes in exasperation.  He didn’t want to choose either.  Huffing, he did as he always did when it came time for him to make a takeout decision.  He chose a menu and three dishes at random and hoped for the best.

Heading back to the living room after finishing his call-in, Hinata found Yuuji looking through his movie collection.  Moving carefully, he quietly snuck up behind his boyfriend and wrapped him in his arms.  The older boy stilled for moment before relaxing into the embrace.  “Mmm.  Hey there.”  Yuuji stretched back to press a quick kiss to Hinata’s cheek.  “What’d you decide?”

Hinata squeezed his boyfriend tighter, enjoying the feeling of having him in his arms.  “Absolutely no idea.  I chose at random.”

Hinata had the distinct pleasure of watching Yuuji’s expression flicker through four emotions:  surprise, confusion, curiosity, and resignation.  “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”  Hinata chose to ignore the pointed look burning into him and asked, “You choose a movie yet?”

Yuuji must have realized he wasn’t getting any more from Hinata because he shook his head in exasperation and held out _Ju-On: The Grudge_.

Hinata smiled at the choice—it was one of his favorites.  After turning on the television, he grabbed the movie and put it in the DVD player.  Pressing play, Hinata turned around to find his boyfriend already comfortably settled on the couch.  Yuuji, upon seeing Hinata making his way over, opened his arms wide in an invitation—not that Hinata really needed one.

With his back pressed comfortably against Yuuji and cradled lovingly in his arms, Hinata felt happier than he had all week.  Rather than pay attention to the movie, which he had seen more times than he cared to count, he basked in the feeling.

It wasn’t too far into the movie that Hinata was disturbed from his daze by the obnoxious ringing of the doorbell.  Loosening his boyfriend’s hold, he made his way to the front door so he could pay the delivery man and grab the food.

Settling the takeout containers on the coffee table, Hinata turned to his boyfriend only to find him struggling to stay awake.  Clearly, Hinata wasn’t the only one that hadn’t gotten a restful night’s sleep that week.

“Come on, sleepyhead.  Food.”  The half-mumbled reply was adorable.  Hinata chuckled and began filling his plate with what appeared to be curry rice, yakiniku, and gyoza.  The rest of the movie was spent eating and fighting over food.  When the credits finally rolled, it was no surprise that the takeout containers were completely emptied.

Yuuji must have been feeling more energetic because he kept pestering Hinata to throw in another movie.  With only a little grumbling, Hinata got up and started _Uzumaki._

Settling back into his boyfriend’s lap, Hinata asked, “Feeling better?”

Yuuji seemed to flinch at the question, curling into himself.  “A little.”

Hinata nodded in understanding.  “Yeah.  It sucks.”

“It really does.”

“Mm.”

Hinata left Yuuji the opening to talk about his defeat, but he said nothing.

The movie continued to play.

Just as Shuichi’s mother was cutting off her fingertips, Yuuji stated in a quiet voice, “We lost.”  Hinata proceeded to mute the movie, knowing that neither would be paying it any attention.  “We were two wins away from nationals…and we lost.”  Hinata didn’t bother saying that they at least made it to the top four in the prefecture.  He didn’t bother saying that he got to play longer than Hinata had.  He didn’t say anything because Hinata knew that if he opened his mouth, he would most likely spew out something hurtful—intended or not.  Instead, he let Yuuji continue and buried his own pain.  Because, unlike Yuuji, Hinata was entirely at fault for his team’s loss.  He had no reason to complain when it was his own fault.

“It wasn’t fun.  _Losing_ isn’t fun.  And you know the worst part?  I was made captain.”

Hinata wasn’t sure how to react to that news.  “Why’s that so bad?”

“I don’t think I deserve it honestly.  I need to do so much better.  Will I even be a good leader?  I don’t know.”  Yuuji sighed, leaning in closer to Hinata.  “I just—I can’t say any of this to the team.  I can’t let them know that I don’t know if I can do this.  I just feel so—so inadequate.”

As much as Hinata wanted to say that he was feeling worse, that he was more inadequate, that he was feeling insecure… he pushed it all down.  It wasn’t productive.  It wasn’t helpful.  All it would do is make everything worse.  It would probably start a pointless fight at worst or a pity party at best.

So, Hinata did what he did best.  He pushed away all the bad feelings and concentrated on the good.

“I think you’ll make a great captain,” Hinata stated.  He turned to fully face his boyfriend as he heard him starting to protest and covered his mouth with his hand.  “I’ve heard you talk about your team.  You know how everyone plays and what they need to improve on.  You know tons of drills.  And you even used me as practice to help you learn better ways to teach so you could help the first years.  Not to mention that you’re really skilled.  You’ll do great.”

Yuuji’s eyes were misty as he removed Hinata’s hand to pull him in for a kiss.  Hugging him tight, he whispered, “Thanks.”

“Is it okay to say congratulations, then?”

Yuuji’s chuckle was strained.  “Yeah.  I guess.”

“Then congratulations.”  When there was no response, Hinata punched him in the arm.  “Be proud, damnit.”

A real laugh forced its way past Yuuji’s lips.  “Alright.  Fine.  I’m proud, damnit.”

“That’s more like it.”

Hinata snuggled back into Yuuji, content in knowing he had accomplished what he set out to do.  As he went to unmute the movie, however, he realized just how much they had missed.

Groaning, Hinata said, “Want me to rewind it?  Or throw in something new?”

“Eh, might as well rewind it.”

So Hinata did just that.  Surprisingly, they actually payed attention to the rest of the movie.

Just as the credits were rolling, Hinata heard the door rattle and open.  Not moments later, a tiny ball of energy rammed straight into Hinata and Yuuji.

“Shou-nii!  Shou-nii!”  Hinata tried to respond, but could only wheeze.  By the echoing wheeze behind him, Yuuji was in the same boat.  “Eh?  Shou-nii?  Who’s this?”

Thankfully, his mother was able to answer in his stead.  “Natsu, this is Shou’s boyfriend, Terushima Yuuji.”

Natsu cocked her head curiously at her mother’s words.  When she turned to Yuuji, she scrunched in concentration as she examined the boy.  “You’re Shou-nii’s boyfriend?”

Yuuji nodded, looking a little startled.

Natsu stared hard into Yuuji’s eyes before nodding and looking at her brother.  “Does he like volleyball too?”

Hinata smiled, knowing Natsu was only asking because she knew how much he liked it.  Sometimes, she could be pretty protective of her big brother.  “Yup!  He plays too.  He’s even the captain of his team.”  Hinata snuck that last bit in, knowing Yuuji had no other choice than to be smothered with congratulations on his mother’s part and open awe from his sister.

“That’s amazing.  Congratulations, Terushima-kun.”  Chiharu’s voice was warm with affection and genuine care as she continued.  “I’m sure you’ll do your team justice.”

“Woah.”  Natsu’s eyes shone as she seemed to look at Yuuji in a new light.

Yuuji, for his part, looked a bit overwhelmed.  “Uh, thanks,” he said, tugging on his earrings in embarrassment.

Hinata Chiharu cleared her throat, looking fondly at her children and Yuuji.  “Natsu, didn’t you have something you wanted to tell Shou?”

“Ah!  Shou-nii!  Guess what!  Guess what!”

“What?”

“I made a bank shot against Yue!”

“Oooh.  That’s so impressive.”  Hinata gushed, squeezing her into a tight hug.  “I’m so proud of you, Nacchan!  You’re getting so good.”

“Mmhm!  I’m gonna be the best.”

Ruffling her hair, he said, “Of course, you are.”

Chiharu interrupted once again.  “Natsu, you can tell your brother the rest later.  You need a bath and then it’s time for bed.”

“Nooo.  I haven’t even played with Shou-nii’s boyfriend yet.”

Hinata promptly scooped her up before she could truly start complaining—once she got herself worked up, it would become a true temper tantrum.  “Let’s play tomorrow.”  Taking a large, exaggerated sniff of her head, he declared, “Eww.  You smell.”

She halfheartedly struggled before sighing and slumping in his hold.  “Fine.  But you gotta read me a story before bed.”

Hinata had to smother a chuckle at her cute pout.  “Alright.  But just one.”  He turned to Yuuji, saying, “I’ll be back.”  After getting a nod from his boyfriend, Hinata proceeded to carry Natsu to the bathroom.

By now, Hinata had Natsu’s bathroom routine down.  She would tell Hinata that she could do it herself and that he should just wait outside.  He would agree as long as she promised to yell if she needed him.  He would then sit just outside the door, listening to the sounds of water splashing and things falling.  Eventually, she would call him in so he could help dry her hair and clean up the mess.

Then, with Natsu wrapped in a towel, he would plop her down onto the bed while he scrounged up her pajamas.  Finally, once she was all dressed and under the covers, he could read her a story.  Tonight, considering she got back late from practice and shopping with her mother, it didn’t take very long for Natsu to fall asleep.

Hinata, however, stayed a few moments longer just to be completely sure that his little sister was truly asleep before quietly leaving the room with the door opened a crack to let in the light.  With a soft smile to himself, Hinata headed back to the living room.  He did not expect to be met with the surprisingly pleasant image of his mother and Yuuji quietly chatting.  It made him really happy to see them getting along so well.  However, when he got close enough, he finally noticed what they were talking about.

A photo album.

Not just any photo album.  It was filled with embarrassing photos of him from when he was little.  It was the one his mother had talked about showing Yuuji when he came over.  How could he forget?!

His mortification must have been obvious because when Yuuji noticed him, a large, shit-eating grin lit his face.  “Hey, Shou.  Your mother was just telling me all about what a little troublemaker you were.”

“Are,” Chiharu corrected.  “He’s still a troublemaker.  You better be careful, Yuuji.”

“Nah.  I like that about him.”  The smile they shared worried Hinata.  It promised more embarrassment in his future.

Deciding he needed to immediately separate them, Hinata grabbed Yuuji’s arm and tugged him up so that he was standing.  “Well, mom.  Looks like it’s pretty late.  Me and Yuuji are gonna head to my room. Watch a show or something before bed.”

Hinata Chiharu had a gleam in her eye that said she wasn’t buying it, but was willing to let it slide.  “Sure, honey.  You boys have fun.  Just remember to leave your door open.  I’ll see you in the morning.”  After sending a discreet wink at her son, she collapsed deeper in the couch, and turned on the television.

Hinata shook his head in fond exasperation and proceeded to lead Yuuji to his room.

Entering the bedroom, Yuuji took one look around and smiled.  “This is so you.”

Hinata took a glance around, skimming over the volleyball and band posters; the volleyballs, basketballs, and soccer balls spilling out of his closet; the books on music production, music theory, and athlete health; and the other little odds and ends scattered around the room.  It was definitely him.  A mish-mash of music and sports.

Shrugging he said, “Well, yeah.  I’d hope so since it’s _my_ room.”

Arms suddenly encircled his waist.  A hot breath hitting the back of his neck.  “It’s nice.  Bit messy though.”

“So’s yours.”

“Eh.  You’re not wrong.”  Hinata felt Yuuji’s arms tighten around him and felt warm lips press against his neck before the warmth of Yuuji slowly separated from him.  “I need to go grab my bags.  Be right back.”

Hinata smiled, knowing that his plans for a relaxation day had worked perfectly.  Yuuji seemed so much better now than he had before.  There was definitely more pep to his step, even if his eyes still bellied how tired he was.  Hinata, himself, was feeling a little better just by being with Yuuji.  The hurt and self-loathing were still there, make no mistake.  But, the love and warmth provided by the older boy soothed the pain.

Sighing, Hinata looked at his messy room and shrugged.  Why bother cleaning when the other boy had already seen the mess?  Instead, he straightened the bed covers and grabbed his laptop so they could watch a show if they wanted.

When Yuuji came back, Hinata was propped by squishy pillows and scrolling through his movie library.  Before Hinata could say anything to him, something small and hard hit him in the shoulder.  Then another, smaller thing hit his stomach.  “Gwah!”  Hinata threw up one hand in defense while the other maneuvered his laptop off to the side.  “Yuuji, wha—“  Suddenly, his vision was gone, obscured by something soft and blue.  He couldn’t even get his bearings before he felt another something whip onto his head.

Groaning, Hinata flopped further back onto his pillows.  “I’ve been slain.  I don’t know what’s happening, but I’ve been slain.  My boyfriend has killed me.”

A deep chuckle rumbled from somewhere on his left.  Hinata groaned again for dramatic effect.

The bed dipped next to him, followed by a heavy warmth settling on top of him.  “You’re heavy,” Hinata wheezed. 

“Hmm.  I thought you were dead.”  Hinata felt a soft pressure against his cheek accompanied by the warmth of a hot breath.

“I didn’t know you were a necrophiliac.”

“I didn’t know you knew that word.”

“I didn’t know you knew…things.”

“Harsh burn.”

“You’re a harsh burn.”

“Aww.  My boyfriend thinks I’m hot.”

“Gah!  That’s not what I meant!”  Small tremors shook Hinata as the body on top of his convulsed with suppressed laughter.  A soft smile swept across his face as he wrapped his arms around Yuuji.  “But, you _are_ pretty hot.”  Lips pressed against his temple once again.  “So, why exactly have I been attacked?”

“Just giving your things back.”

“Ahh.  My tank top’s covering my face, isn’t it?  I thought it smelled familiar.”

“Mmhm.”

As Yuuji adjusted himself into a better position, Hinata took the opportunity to remove the material covering his face.  The first thing he saw was his boyfriend draped over him with his face nuzzled into Hinata’s neck.  Turning his gaze to the fabric in his hand, he noted that it was indeed his tank top.  The other fabric, though, was unrecognizable.  It was a black hoodie with some kind of white print on the front.  Abandoning the tank top, Hinata grabbed the hoodie to examine the print.  Gasping, Hinata saw it was a white skull with cracks in it and the words ‘One OK Rock’ underneath it.

It was awesome.  But, it wasn’t his hoodie.

“Yuuji. This isn’t mine.”

“Hmm?”  Yuuji lifted his head to look at the hoodie.  “Ah.  Yeah, it’s mine.  I told you I was stealing your coldrain hoodie.  So, here’s my hoodie to replace yours.”

“You were serious?  But--!  I love that hoodie.”

“Yeah.  And it smells like you.  So, I’m keeping it.  For now.”  Hinata’s eyes widened at the admission.  His boyfriend got so sappy when he was tired.  It was super cute.  “That’s why you now have one of my favorite hoodies.”  A finger bopped Hinata’s nose, making his face scrunch.  The feeling of Yuuji snuggling back down onto him coupled with the admission made Hinata grin, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Hinata brought the hoodie up to his face to cover his embarrassment.  As he smothered his face, he had to admit that it did smell like Yuuji, and he really liked it.

Exhaling roughly, he pulled the hoodie from his face and agreed.  “My hoodie now.”

The familiar shaking of Yuuji quietly chuckling made Hinata smile once more.

However, as much as Hinata liked the warm weight of his boyfriend, he really wanted to get into comfier clothes.  “Alright.  Move, you ass.  I want to change into comfy clothes.”

“But I’m comfy.”

“Move.”

“Make me.”

Shrugging, Hinata did exactly that.  He levered one leg against the wall and then proceeded to throw his weight into shoving the older boy off of his bed.  The subsequent sound of flesh meeting floor was satisfying.

“Ugh.  So mean, Shou.”

“I did ask nicely.  You’re the one that said ‘make me.’”  Peering over the bed, Hinata saw his boyfriend’s smirk, promising things wouldn’t end well.

As the floor was replaced with the ceiling, Hinata groaned in part resignation and part pain.  Landing on Yuuji had cushioned most of the fall, but the force he was pulled with had caused his right elbow to slam into the ground hard.

“Ass.”

“I do have a nice one, don’t I?”

Hinata snorted.  “Yeah, yeah.”  Removing himself, Hinata made his way to his closet and grabbed a large black tank top, quickly switching shirts.  He then ditched his pants, leaving him in his dark green patterned boxers.

Turning around, he saw Yuuji still splayed out on the floor with his head propped up by his hand.  He was raking his eyes over Hinata from top to bottom.  When his eyes met Hinata’s, he held them and said, “You have a nice ass too.”  He looked contemplative for a moment before stating, “Everyone’s going to be so jealous of our nice asses.  They’ll see us walking down the street and go, ‘Wow.  Look at those asses.  Dayum.  The rest of my life will be lived in utter disappointment for not possessing as fine an ass as those two have.’”

Hinata held a straight face for as long as possible, but, in the end, he found himself doubled over laughing uncontrollably.

He should have known better though.  He felt a hand wrap around his bicep and pull.  Yet again, he was sprawled across Yuuji, who now had a handful of his ass.  His grin was wider than Hinata had ever seen it.  “Very nice, Shou-chan.”

Hinata pursed his lips and reached his own hand down to pinch what he could of Yuuji’s ass.  “Yep.  Now get _your_ fine ass up and into something comfy because I don’t plan on leaving the bed for the rest of the night.”  The instant coloring of Yuuji’s cheeks was beyond satisfying.

Hinata patted his boyfriend’s cheek with his other hand and proceeded to crawl onto the bed.  While Yuuji dug around in his bags, Hinata searched his bed for the toothpaste, jewelry case, tank top, and hoodie that Yuuji had chucked at him earlier.  Tossing everything to the side, he turned to watch his boyfriend undress.  Turnabout and all that.

As Yuuji peeled off his shirt, Hinata shamelessly took in every inch of skin.  Like any athlete, he was muscled.  As a wing spiker, Yuuji had some gorgeous back and shoulder muscles—not to mention arms.  And all that jumping gave him nice legs.  …Ok, actually, just all of Yuuji was beautiful.  Hinata was very thankful the older boy didn’t wear shirts to bed.  And the loose black sweatpants only served to soften Yuuji as a contrast to the hard muscle and sharp hip bones.

Yuuji finally turned to Hinata, one hand on his hip and the other raising to tap the side of his mouth.  “You got a little bit of drool right here.”

“Hmm.  Bite me.”

“Gladly.”

Hinata figured Yuuji had to have teleportation powers because one second he was across the room and the next he was hovering over Hinata with one hand bracing himself on the bed and the other cupping Hinata’s face.  As promised, Yuuji attacked teeth first, nipping at Hinata’s bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth.

Hinata responded with his own nipping and sucking before boldly swiping his tongue between parted lips, asking permission.  Pliantly, Yuuji opened his mouth, meeting Hinata’s tongue with his own.

Losing himself in the moment, Hinata forgot about the open door and his mother.  “Shouyo!”  Hinata Chiharu’s shout had Yuuji jumping off of the small decoy, looking frightened.  Hinata internally smirked.  His boyfriend may act cool and unflappable, but, apparently, he was super nervous about making a good impression on his mother.  It kind of warmed Hinata’s heart that he cared so much.

“Yeah, Mom?” he shouted back.

“I’m heading to bed.  Love you!”

“Love you too!”

“Don’t forget!  No funny business!”  Hinata was pretty sure his face went through the entire red spectrum at her reminder.  “Night, honey!”

“N-Night mom!”  Hinata would be happy to be sucked into the wall, disappearing forever.  He was too embarrassed.

The silence that followed was awkward.

“Well… that just killed the mood,” Yuuji declared quite plainly.

“Yup.”

Yuuji sighed and settled down next to Hinata.  “So, what now?”

Hinata hummed in thought.  “Well, either we watch another movie or we can sleep.”

“Hmm.  No more movies.”

Hinata chuckled.  “Okay then.  Sleep it is.”

“Nooo.  Talk to me.”

Hinata rolled his eyes in fondness.  “Mkay.  Fine.”  He got up to turn off the lights and then scampered back to snuggle under the covers with the older boy.  “What do you want to talk about?”

“I dunno.  How about….  I dunno—How’d your sister get into basketball?”

“Me.  Obviously.”

“What?”

“I got her into basketball.”  At Yuuji’s look, he elaborated.  “I’ve played tons of sports besides volleyball.  In junior high, I got some sports clubs to trade practices with me—I’d get them to practice volleyball if I would practice their stuff with them.  Natsu just happened to pick up the basketball stuff and ran with it.”

“Ah.  It’s just…you’d think with a volleyball nut for a brother she’d be into volleyball.”

“Eh.  She likes volleyball too, but she likes basketball more.  She wanted her own thing since I have volleyball covered.”

“Huh.  That’s cute.”

“Mmhm.  I’m super proud of her.  She’s doing so good.  That Yue she scored against is pretty talented.  That she got a bank shot off of her is awesome.  She’s gonna do so good.”  Hinata secretly thought that if she truly pursued basketball, she would take the sport by storm.  It was part pride and part honest admiration of her skills that had him completely convinced of this.

“You have such a proud smile.  It’s so cute.”

“Mm.  Did you play anything before volleyball?”

“Not seriously.  I dabbled a bit with soccer, but it didn’t hold up.  Futamata still plays a bit with a neighborhood team though.  Sometimes he drags me along.”

“That’s nice.  Wanna play sometime?”

“Sure.”  Yuuji seemed to consider something before adding, “Actually, I don’t think Futamata would mind you tagging along.”

“Ooh.  Maybe we could have a two-on-two with you and Futamata against me and Kouji.”

“Kouji?  That’s your friend from junior high, right?”

“Yeah.  He’s the soccer nut.  Izumi is all about basketball.  And obviously, volleyball for me.”

“Hmm.  That could be lots of fun.  Why not just make it a three-on-three then?  Add your Izumi and my Bobata and we have a full set.”

“Fwah!  That sounds awesome.  Let’s do it!”

Yuuji chuckled and nudged Hinata.  “Alright.  Let’s do it.”

Hinata grinned in excitement just thinking about it.  All of his favorite people and Yuuji’s favorite people together being all competitive.  It sounded like a recipe for chaos.  It only made him grin wider.

“So, Yuuji.  You never told me how you met Futamata and Bobata.”

“We’ve been together forever.  We’re all in the same neighborhood, so we literally grew up together.  We’ve even gone to all the same schools.”

“That’s so neat.  I’ve only known Izumi and Kouji since junior high.”  Hinata pouted, thinking of all the missed time.  How things could have gone had they all lived near each other.  It’d be nice to just walk down the road instead of biking into town to hang out.  And messaging and phone calls can only go so far.

“Ah, you know….  Futamata and Bobata are the ones that got me into piercings.”

Hinata couldn’t deny his curiosity.  “Ah?  Really?”

“Mmhm.  It’s actually really stupid how it started.”

“Ok.  Now you have to tell me.”

Yuuji’s shoulders shook in suppressed mirth before he faked a put-upon sigh.  “I guess I can.  So, it was around the start of junior high.  We were all hanging out at the park when we started an argument about who was tougher.  Of course, Futamata was the one to come up with the great plan to prove it by daring each other to do stupid things.  We were all pretty reckless, so we had to keep daring each other again and again.  No one backed down.  This was when Bobata noticed this guy walking through the park.”  Hinata couldn’t help but grin, having an idea of where this was going.  “This guy had tons of tattoos and piercings.  The idiot first tried to dare us to get tattoos, which was super dumb.  After being shot down, though, he had the bright idea to dare us to get a piercing.  Instead of just having us two, me and Futamata figured we could make this the deciding dare.  All three of us would get a piercing and whoever chickened out was the loser.”

“Seriously?” Hinata couldn’t help but interrupt with laughter.  “Of all the things, you got your first piercing on a dare?”  A whack to his arm shut him up.

“Yes, yes I did.  You want me to continue?  Or leave it at that?”

“Continue,” was his contrite response.

“Good.  So, I went to my mom that night and asked her if she could take me to get my ears pierced.  She didn’t even bat an eye—just asked me if that was what I really wanted.  I said it was, so she agreed.”  Yuuji’s face scrunched up in a weird combination of amusement and resignation.  “You know, I asked her a few years later why she agreed so easily.  She said it was a learning experience.  Something about taking responsibility for life choices and whatever—she’s so weird.

“Anyway, so fast forward a few weeks.  Mom, me, and the guys were at this tattoo parlor and none of us could decide who should go first.  We argued about it until I’d had enough and volunteered.  So, I got up on the chair, thinking I could play off my nerves by pretending to be hot shit.”  Yuuji’s self-deprecating laughter briefly interrupted the story.  “Aw man, there I was with my ears all marked, puffing out my chest like it was no big deal.  And then the needle came out and I completely lost it.  Started freaking out.  I almost bailed, but I really wanted to win the dare.  So, I sucked it up, closed my eyes, and waited for that needle.”

Hinata couldn’t help his racing heart as Yuuji went silent for a moment, seemingly lost in his memory of the experience.  Even knowing that his boyfriend had many more piercings since then, he still felt a sense of anxiety.

A soft laugh broke Hinata’s tension just before Yuuji continued.  “I swear, it’s the funniest thing thinking back to how scared I was.  As soon as the needle went through, I felt so let down.  I had built it up for those weeks thinking about that damn needle.  And here it was, barely worse than getting splinters from climbing trees.

“After the guy finished, I hopped down and looked at my mom.  She just raised an eyebrow and said, ‘Well?’  It was one of her classic looks—the one that says she is unimpressed with my dramatics, but she still wants to know how I really feel.  I loved them, of course, and told her exactly that.  She didn’t say anything.  Just smiled and ruffled my hair, which is, like, her weird way of giving of her approval without actually saying it out loud.

“The best part, though, is that the guys watched me get it done and completely chickened out.  I’ve lorded that over them ever since.”

Hinata couldn’t help his own laughter at such a—a _Yuuji_ conclusion.  “Of course you would.”

“Damn straight.”

Hinata snorted and pushed closer to bite his boyfriend’s ear.  “Because you’re so straight.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“You got me there.”  Hinata thought for a moment.  “So, if it took a dare to get your first piercings, how’d you end up with more?”

“Nope.  Nuh-uh.  You’re not getting more out of me until you tell me how _you_ got your first piercings.”

Hinata couldn’t help tensing up.  It wasn’t a fun story.  He’d put off discussing why he’d gotten his first piercings for that very reason.  But, he really liked Yuuji.  And, Yuuji had shared his own story.

He briefly considered glossing over the true beginning of the story, but quickly discarded the thought.  For one, it felt a bit like betrayal when Yuuji had been so honest with him.  And two, it was a needless secret.  Despite the fact that it made him uncomfortable thinking about his own (admittedly stupid and whiny) actions, there was no real reason that he shouldn’t tell his boyfriend.

Sighing, Hinata snuggled in closer to the older boy and began speaking.  “It’s not fun like your story, and it’s a bit drawn out.  So bear with me.”  Yuuji’s light air immediately disappeared as he squeezed Hinata closer.

“It really started with my dad dying.  It was the month before we graduated from middle school when he was hit by a car.”  It wasn’t really the car that killed him though.  The force of his head impacting with the ground had truly done it.  Head wounds were tricky, the nurses had told him at the time.  Shaking himself from those thoughts, Hinata continued.  “Natsu was too young to understand at the time.  Mom was inconsolable, and, on top of it, she had to figure out how to raise two children on her own.   And, I didn’t really know _how_ to deal with it so I started bottling everything, which was the worst thing I could’ve done.

“When I made it to junior high, I was able to be my cheerful self at school, but then I’d get home and be an emotional wreck.  Mom was too busy with work and Natsu to really notice and Izumi and Kouji had only just become my friends, so they wouldn’t have known either.  As time went on, though, I couldn’t hold in those emotions anymore because I just kept bottling and bottling.  Eventually, I started lashing out at everyone.  I started fights for no reason.  Threw things.  Yelled.  Not all the time, of course,” he was quick to reassure.  “But, once something set me off, it was like setting off a bomb.  It didn’t help that everyone made fun of me for being short.

“Anyway, Izumi and Kouji, eventually realized what was going on and tried to help me.  And they _did_ help.  Talking to them helped more than they know, but it wasn’t really enough.  So, I threw myself into sports, but that didn’t really do much either.  Kouji was the one to suggest I try music.  At first I thought he meant playing, but he explained that sometimes listening to certain music really helps.  He listens to classical to ease his stress and thought that it might work for me.

“He was right.  Though, it wasn’t classical that helped me.  Lots of digging through all kinds of genres finally left me with punk rock, post-hardcore—all kinds of harder music that really helped my anger.  It was through their music that I felt a connection.  I didn’t feel alone.  And even if the lyrics didn’t match my exact situation, the feeling behind the songs was enough.  I could just lose myself in the emotions, the feelings.  I wanted more though, so I searched out a local concert.

“That was when I truly found what I needed.  The crowd.  The rush.  The feel of every song vibrating down into my bones.  The push and pull of everyone there connecting on the same level.”  He sighed in reverence.  “It was overwhelming and freeing in a way that made everything feel right again.  Not even embarrassed to admit that I totally cried like a baby.

“It was more than that though.  The longer I went, the more I realized how no one cared about appearances.  No one judged.  It was just about the music and the release and the feeling of being connected.  That’s when I first was inspired to get piercings.”  Hinata reached up to tug on his first lobe piercings.  “My first earrings were these black studs.

“The whole reason this story is so long is because there is so much wrapped into these earrings.  They’re to honor my dad, they represent that feeling of acceptance that I found at that concert, and they’re a reminder to myself to not let bad things rule my life like they did then.”

There were no words shared as Hinata finished speaking, and Hinata was fine with that.  With it being so personal, it was kind of a relief that Yuuji didn’t respond right away with useless words.  It was better than any worthless consolations or silly placations.  So, Hinata closed his eyes and listened to his boyfriend’s even breathing, simply taking in the intimacy of the moment.

A soft peck to his temple caused a rush of affection to wash over Hinata.  It said more than any words truly could.

“So, that was pretty fucking intense.”  And, of course, Yuuji had to ruin it.  “Man, your story blows mine out of the water.  I feel so inferior, Shou.”

Leave it to the older boy to make him laugh even when he didn’t want to.  “Can’t help it.  I’m just that awesome.”

“Yeah.”  The admission was quiet with a tenderness meant only for Hinata.  “You are.”

Hinata didn’t know how to respond, especially as he still felt very ‘un-awesome’ for being the key reason his team lost against Aobajohsai.  To change the subject, he ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind.  “So, how’d you get your other piercings!”

Yuuji raised an eyebrow, inquisitive look on his face, as he turned toward Hinata.  Instead of calling him out, he turned back to staring mindlessly at the ceiling and said, “Pirates.”

Hinata wasn’t sure he heard him right.  “What?”

“Pirates.  I told you I really, really liked pirates.  I thought I looked like one with my first piercings and wanted more to complete the image.”

Hinata couldn’t help the disbelief that colored his voice as he squeaked out, “Pirates?”

Yuuji, face completely red, nodded.  “Pirates.”

As they were both overtaken by laughter, Hinata couldn’t but think that he should stop lying to himself about how much he liked Yuuji.  There truly was no one else like him.  And he wanted no one else but him.

The night dragged on and Hinata fell further for his boyfriend.  Hinata’s intimate sharing about his first piercings seemed to break down a previously unrealized wall between them as they spoke throughout the night about serious topics that they hadn’t yet discussed, namely their deeply held insecurities.  Yuuji talked a bit about how he felt stifled by his father’s expectations of him and how sometimes his mother’s playful barbs went too far and actually hurt his feelings.  Hinata in turn explained how sometimes he felt like he was pushed into the role of Natsu’s father when he was still a child himself.

They went back and forth like this, sharing hidden facets of themselves interspersed with light banter until they both fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

The next day, morning came and went faster than either of them were prepared for and before Hinata knew it, he was waving to Yuuji as he disappeared into the distance.  Sighing to himself, Hinata let his head fall against the door jamb and fiddled with his new earring, a bronze feather from Yuuji’s left ear.

He couldn’t deny it any more.  He didn’t just like Yuuji.  He was head over heels in love with him.  The crazy competitive, snarky, closet romantic Yuuji.

Watching his boyfriend interact with his family this morning made him truly realize it.  The older boy had helped his mother with breakfast and even washed the dishes after.  He let Natsu crawl all over him without complaint and instigated a round of make believe with the “Princess.”  All the while, he kept sending warm looks at Hinata.

The overwhelming sense of comfort, home, and love almost sent him reeling at first.  He knew after that he wouldn’t be able to lie to himself anymore.  He truly was in love with Yuuji.

Clenching his fist tight, Hinata banged his head back against the door jamb once more.  He was such a coward.  He couldn’t bring himself to tell any of this to Yuuji.  He still felt inadequate in so many ways.

He didn’t want to tell Yuuji he loved him when he still felt so weighed down by his most recent failure.  He wanted the moment to be perfect, filled with happiness and love rather than tainted with lingering feelings of inadequacy and anger.

Slamming his head back one more time, Hinata promised himself that he would rid himself of those feelings as soon as possible by fighting tooth and nail to improve.  He would find his own way to fight in the air.  He would succeed where he had previously failed.  He would help bring the team to nationals.

But most importantly, he would succeed so that he could look Yuuji in the eyes and confess just how much he needed him in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I don't normally like leaving chapter notes. But, I wanted to let you all know that I might not be able to update once a month like I've been doing because I'm really trying to buckle down and finish my thesis. This story will be finished, though. Don't doubt that for a second. It'll probably just take me longer now.
> 
> On a side note, holy crap! You guys are amazing! Thank you all so much for bookmarking, kudos-ing, commenting, reading! I've absolutely loved reading your comments (and sorry I've never replied, I just never really know what to say in response). Again, thank you all for the support. You're the best. And feel free to hit me up on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/epichuglass) if you ever want to chat.


End file.
